Save Our Shrimpers Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2071) to prohibit Federal funds from being made available to international financial institutions for the purposes of financing foreign shrimp farms, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 2071

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Save Our Shrimpers Act''. SEC. 2. VOICE AND VOTE REQUIREMENT.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each international financial institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of the International Financial Institutions Act) to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose any financial assistance by such institution for any project to support shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp in a borrowing country.

(b) Waiver Authority.--The Secretary of the Treasury may waive subsection (a) with respect to a project upon notifying the Congress that the waiver is in the national interest of the United States.

(c) Expiration.--Subsection (a) shall have no force or effect after the end of the 7-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my friend, Mr. Nehls', bill, the Save Our Shrimpers Act.

Across our coastlines, our communities believe it is crucial that we protect our domestic shrimping industry and the hardworking men and women who keep it alive every day, day in and day out.

For far too long, U.S. shrimpers along the Gulf and other coastal communities across our country have been put in a serious disadvantage by a wave of cheap, imported shrimp.

As the largest shareholder of multilateral lenders like the World Bank, the United States must ensure that these institutions are not financing competing shrimp producers with our domestic family growers. Representative Nehls' bipartisan bill addresses this issue.

Mr. Speaker, it requires U.S. representatives at the international financial institutions to oppose financing activities related to shrimp farming, shrimp processing, or the export of shrimp from a foreign country.

I thank Mr. Nehls for his leadership on this important issue and for helping ensure that our international financing policy prioritizes a level playing field for our shrimp producers here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Nehls has done good work on behalf of our hardworking men and women in the shrimping industry, particularly in his native Gulf Coast, who get up at the crack of dawn every day to make a living and serve a delicious product to Americans and neighbors alike.

Mr. Speaker, I witnessed something so similar 25 years ago in the Mississippi Delta when the Federal Government's policy was to subsidize importation of catfish from Vietnam. It literally put hundreds of family farms in Mississippi and Arkansas out of business and bankrupted the industry because we facilitated--through our trade policy, through our international financial institutions policy, through our import policy--a decision that was in contrast to the very policies of USDA, which were to increase family farms and increase farms diversifying their crop from row crop to domestically produced farm-raised catfish. These policies collided, Mr. Speaker.

I think what the gentleman from Texas is arguing is let's have common sense in our policy that supports our producers and our family shrimp growers, support them and put them first in this channel of providing high-quality seafood to the American consumer.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Nehls) for this bill. I urge a ``yes'' vote on both sides of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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