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   Overall, I believe that CBI parity is the right thing to do--if it does what it is intended to do. That is lift the people of the hurricane devastated countries out of poverty and ensure them a better way of life.

   I also believe that the United States must lead by example. Sensitivity to labor and environment must play a role in our trade decisions and actions around the world.

   It's tragic that partisan politics keeps the United States Senate from taking these actions.

   AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT

   I have the same concerns about labor in terms of the African Growth and Opportunity portion of the bill. But I supported the Chairman's mark, which included a provision requiring U.S. fabric for apparel products produced in eligible sub-Saharan African countries.

   Developing markets is in the best interest of us all. And the trade bill would help Africa move in that direction. But this bill is about more than trade. It is about hope.

   It is about bringing the struggling nations of sub-Saharan Africa into our democratic system. It is about establishing stability and a framework wherein the citizens of these nations can enjoy the fruits of prosperity. It is about building a bridge between the United States and Africa that will be a model for all nations.

   TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE

   The third part of the bill renews the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. We cannot expect to maintain a domestic consensus on trade if we fail to assist those who are adversely affected. For 37 years, this program helped Americans adjust to the forces of globalization.

   I would like to acknowledge Senator MOYNIHAN, who originated this program, in another demonstration of his wisdom and foresight. I have seen the effects of this program in Montana. The renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance translates to 330 Montana employees impacted and approximately $44 million in gross annual sales preserved.

   This legislation is long overdue. TAA authorization expired on June 30. There are families who are displaced in the world economy, and they are living off this transitional benefit--200,000 eligible workers.

   While we delay, certified firms anxiously await funding. This is fundamentally unfair--especially for employees of firms fighting import competition that is beyond their control. They cannot afford to wait while TAA is caught up in the annual battle for funding as the ``perennial bargaining chip'' for other trade proposals. That's just ineffective government. It's time to pass this legislation.

   GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES

   Finally, let me say a word about GSP renewal. This is the fourth part of the trade bill. This is also a question of effective government. Over the years, the program has lapsed periodically when renewal legislation was delayed. Like TAA, the latest lapse occurred on June 30. Four months later, we still haven't acted on its renewal.

   Who gets hurt? Not just foreign companies. A lot of American firms get hurt. That includes both American importers and exporters. A lot of the American firms produce abroad and then export to the United States. Much of this is internal company trade. That's the reality of today's global economy.

   When GSP lapses, these companies are suddenly required to deposit import duties into an account. Customs holds the money until renewal legislation is signed. Eventually the companies get their money back. But they don't know how long renewal legislation will take. So they don't how much they'll have to set aside, or how long the money will be in escrow.

   How can we expect businesses to operate efficiently under such conditions? These cycles of GSP lapsing and then being renewed represent government at its worst. We have a responsibility to provide business and consumers with a consistent, predictable set of rules. We need to fix this GSP lapse as quickly as possible.

   Mr. President, a lot of effort, a lot of thought, a lot of time has gone into this bill. Much time has also gone into formulating amendments. It was a great disappointment to see this effort unravel over partisan politics. We have a second chance this week. Let's not squander the opportunity. We can and should work together to pass this bill.

   We were elected to this body to pass legislation not to bicker. Let's do what the people sent us here to do.

   Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York is recognized.

   Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise briefly to express the wish that every Member of the Senate will have heard, or will have read, the remarks of the Senator from Montana. There speaks the American voice. I trust it will be heard. Thanks to him, it will prevail.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.

   Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to address the African Growth and Opportunity Act and to discuss two amendments I hope to offer. I would like to begin by thanking the chairman and the ranking member of the committee for their good work on this bill. Anyone who has spent time in Africa knows the poverty and environmental problems inherent on that continent. The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, I believe, is the most hopeful vehicle for positive change that has come about. It opens the door to trade, investment, economic growth, and a higher quality of life for people of African nations. It will give Africans options and new abilities to build economically, to develop, to improve opportunities for trade worldwide, and to build new businesses on African and Caribbean soil.

   Sub-Saharan Africa is a market of some 700 million people. Yet less than 1 percent of our Nation's total trade is currently conducted with nations of this region. Expanding trade with this emerging market will help keep America competitive with Europe and Asia, who are already expanding their markets in the African nations. As the nations of sub-Saharan African reform their economies to spur economic growth, U.S. exporters will have access to new and larger markets for their products. This, in the long run, creates and sustains American jobs.

   Just as important, this legislation contains provisions to support and encourage democracy and human rights in sub-Saharan Africa . A country is not eligible for trade and investment benefits if it engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and does not respect basic labor rights, such as the right to organize and bargain, the right of association, and acceptable working conditions.

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   Finally, as President Clinton noted, deepening our economic ties with these nations will also strengthen our cooperative efforts to address a host of transnational threats, such as environmental degradation, infectious disease, and illicit drug trafficking. I had intended to offer an amendment to address any potential impact this legislation might have on the domestic apparel industry of our Nation. The amendment I would have introduced would have created a tax credit of 30 percent for the first $12,300 in the first year of employment, rising to 50 percent over 5 years for domestic garment and sewn manufacturers who hire a worker who is at or below the poverty line in this country. For an individual, that is $8,240; for a family of four, it is $16,700.

   However, both the chairman and the ranking member of the Finance Committee have made it clear they don't believe tax credit amendments should be offered to this legislation, and I respect that. The offset we also had in mind, it turns out, has been utilized. However, the amendment has been scored. I will not offer this domestic textile worker tax credit amendment on this bill, though my intention is to offer it as a separate bill with an offset at a later time.

   I think this legislation would provide real incentive for domestic manufacturers to keep jobs in the United States, to hire American workers, and to keep them on the job. Moreover, by targeting the benefits to employees who, before being hired, are living at or below the poverty line, the amendment would

   also help move families off of welfare and public assistance and provide them good jobs in which they can support themselves and their families.

   My second amendment addresses the need for the United States to remain in the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa .

   Mr. President, this bill inadvertently threatens to undermine the fight against AIDS in Africa . Approximately 34 million people, if you can believe it, in sub-Saharan Africa --that is the equivalent of the population of the State of California--are or have been infected with AIDS or HIV. And 11.5 million people of those infected have died--11.5 million people. These fatalities comprise 83 percent of the world's total HIV/AIDS -related death. Eighty-three percent of the death from AIDS in the world are in the sub-Saharan African countries. So the impact of AIDS in Africa is huge. It continues to be a major threat to the well-being of the entire African Continent. Frankly, it even threatens the well-being of this legislation if it is left unaddressed.

   Unfortunately, this legislation carries with it intellectual property rights for the American pharmaceutical companies which prevent the licensing , manufacture, and sale of cheaper generic AIDS drugs. That is a practice known as ``compulsory licensing .''

   Without compulsory licensing , a practice fully consistent with international law, the vast majority of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa could not afford the more expensive drugs from American pharmaceutical companies and, thus, more will suffer and die simply without treatment. AIDS drugs in this country literally cost several hundred dollars a month. They must be taken several times a day regularly, and they often necessitate other drugs to ward off serious side effects of AIDS -reducing drugs.

   The amendment I have authored, which is cosponsored by Senator FEINGOLD, on which we have worked with the staff on both sides, and which we believe will be acceptable to both sides, draws on a provision in Senator FEINGOLD's HOPE for Africa bill. It allows the countries of sub-Saharan Africa to pursue compulsory licensing by preventing the U.S. Government from enforcing one specific U.S. intellectual property right that, when implemented, would prevent the license, manufacture, and sale of generic AIDS drugs in Africa .

   For those of my colleagues who may be concerned that this amendment may undermine wider intellectual property rights, this amendment acknowledges the World Trade Organization's agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property and that that is the presumptive legal standard for intellectual property rights.

   The WTO, however, allows countries flexibility in addressing public health concerns, and the compulsory licensing process under this amendment is consistent with the WTO's balancing of intellectual property rights with the moral obligation to meet public health emergencies such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa .

   When 11 million people die of a single disease, it certainly deserves and merits this kind of consideration.

   In effect, this amendment will allow the countries of sub-Saharan Africa to continue to determine the availability of HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals in their countries, and provide their people with more affordable HIV/AIDS drugs.

   It is clearly in the national interest of the United States to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa , and I believe that this amendment is an important improvement to this legislation if we are to continue to assist the countries of the region to bring this deadly disease under control.

   I am pleased to support the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Caribbean Basin Initiative because I believe they are both in the national interest of this country.

   I thank both the chairman and the ranking member for their support of this amendment.

   I yield the floor.

   Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong support for the amendment of the Senator from California to the African Growth and Opportunity Act. First, let me thank Senator FEINSTEIN for her leadership on this critical issue. This very provision is incorporated in my own HOPE for Africa bill, S. 1636, and I am especially pleased she is offering that language as an amendment to this bill today.

   AGOA's aim is to strengthen economic ties between the United States and the diverse states of sub-Saharan Africa , fostering economic development and mutually beneficial growth. I think that we can all agree that this is a worthy goal. The disagreement is about how we get from here to there.

   It is my belief that no U.S.-Africa trade bill will succeed unless it addresses the underlying context for growth and development in Africa . The United States needs to pass legislation that will help set the stage for a real economic partnership.

   The Feinstein-Feingold amendment is a good start because it is impossible to address Africa's economic and social development problems without taking serious action to combat the region's HIV/AIDs epidemic.

   In 1998, four out of every five HIV/AIDs -related deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa . In fact, HIV/AIDS kills over 5,000 Africans each day.

   Common decency tells us that this is a humanitarian catastrophe. Basic logic also tells us that it is economically devastating.

   AIDS attacks the most productive segment of society--the young adults who would otherwise be the engine in Africa's economy. And it leaves far too many children orphaned, preparing to take their place in society without the guidance and security that their parents would have provided.

   And the health-care costs associated with AIDS are astronomical. Life-savings medications can cost $12,000 per year--an impossible burden in countries where average per-capita annual income often barely exceed $1,000.

   How can the United States expect to find a strong economic partner in Africa if it ignores these facts?

   This amendment does not hide from these realities. It approaches them head-on, by prohibiting U.S. funds from being used to change the intellectual property laws of African states.

   That means that taxpayer dollars will not be spent to help pharmaceutical companies undermine the legal efforts of some African states to gain and retain access to lower cost pharmaceuticals.

   It is important to be clear--this amendment does not allow African states to ``get away with something.'' It explicitly refers to the legal means by which these countries are entitled to address their public health emergencies.

   These legal methods, which are permitted under the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, or TRIPS, lower prices for consumers by creating competition in the

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   Compulsory licensing does not ignore the rights of patent-holders. Pharmaceutical companies holding patents on HIV/AIDS drugs are paid a royalty under these arrangements.

   This amendment simply prohibits the United States from spending money to undermine an entirely legal fight for survival that is being waged in Africa today.

   It is legal. It is the right thing to do. And ultimately, it is in America's interest, as healthier African people will undoubtedly lead to healthier African economies.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.

   Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks of the distinguished Senator from California. She seeks to address a most critical problem, one that is unbelievable, as she pointed out, with 11 million a year dying from this disease.

   We have been working. We expect to come together on an amendment that will be acceptable to both sides.

   Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the chairman very much. I appreciate that.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

   Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has said numerous times that increased trade has raised the standard of living and the quality of life for almost all countries involved in trade, and especially the quality of life in our own country. Chairman Greenspan believes the No. 1 benefit of trade is not simply jobs but an enhanced standard of living. I can think of no more important enhancement to the standard of living of America's hardest pressed working families than to increase the minimum wage. Surely, it is appropriate to send a message on this legislation that increased trade must definitely mean a better quality of life for the working poor.

   I had hoped to offer an amendment to this bill to raise the minimum wage. Regrettably, it was perhaps the only vehicle that was going to be left in this year of this particular session. But the majority leader's actions prevented me from doing that. This trade bill has been offered to enhance the standard of living for workers in Africa and the Caribbean. I am certainly in favor of that. But there are honest disagreements as to whether the proposal before us effectively does so.

   While we express our concern for the workers in these nations, we cannot forget the workers in our own country. I believe the American people will hold this Congress responsible for refusing to address so many issues which are critical to our families and our communities, and the majority, I believe, has once again turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the American people for action. I regret this latest missed opportunity.

   I take this opportunity as we are coming into the final days of this congressional year to express what I know has to be the frustration of about 12 million Americans who had hoped this Congress would have raised the minimum wage, or at least had the opportunity to debate this issue and discuss this issue and consider this issue during this past summer, or this past fall, or even prior to the time that we were going to go into recess. But we have been denied the opportunity to do so. Every legislative possibility has been excluded from us doing so up to this time, and even excluded on this piece of legislation.

   I join with all of those who share this enormous frustration and a certain amount of disgust at the way this issue is being treated as we are moving into these final days.

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