An Early ‘Happy Holidays’ From the U.S. Congress

Dec 9th, 2006 3:30 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

Well, as you can tell from that last post, it was late night around here, but at 1:27 AM we were all rewarded with great news: a 79-9 victorious vote in the Senate.

Passing the “third-party fabric” provision before adjourning Congress for the holidays was a clear opportunity for the Democratic and Republican parties to work together to take a lead in the fight against extreme poverty.

Fabric mills are scarce in Africa, so apparel makers in places like Lesotho import raw fabric from other countries, often Asia. This process is expensive and the duty-free status of African-manufactured clothing is one of the biggest reasons why African clothing makers are able to compete in the U.S. market.

Since AGOA was originally created in 2000, this provision has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in countries with some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world. If Congress hadn’t renewed the “third-party fabric” provision of AGOA early today, as many as 150,000 Africans could have lost their jobs and their abilities to contribute to their local economies.

With the President’s signature, this provision will be extended to 2012, allowing businesses more ability and reason to invest in this growing industry. I am honored to work among so many in our movement who helped make this happen and am thrilled to be able to follow the positive impact of this extension over the next five years.