U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the first woman to ever chair the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and currently the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, scored a victory this week as Congress sent the “United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of 2016” to President Barack Obama’s desk.
Ros-Lehtinen was the chief Republican supporter of U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel’s, D-NY, “United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of 2016” which passed the Senate this week after the House passed it in June. U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., was one of the first co-sponsors of the bill.
Engel’s bill requires the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “to submit to Congress a multiyear strategy focused on enhancing engagement with the countries of the Caribbean and enhancing outreach to diaspora communities in the United States” and “puts particular emphasis on energy security, countering violence, expanded diplomacy, and other priority areas.”
“We spend a great deal of time focusing on challenges and opportunities in faraway places. But it’s important that we never lose sight of our interests closer to home. Indeed, we should be working to strengthen our ties with countries in the Caribbean,” Engel said on the House floor back in June. “That’s the aim of this bill, which would prioritize U.S.-Caribbean relations for years to come.”
“At a time when our friends in the Caribbean need us more than ever, this bill will prioritize our partnership with the subregion for many years to come,” Engel insisted on Tuesday after the Senate passed his proposal. “It is long past time to have a multi-year strategy that will allow us to increase engagement with the Caribbean, especially when it comes to energy and security. The countries of the Caribbean are profoundly important to the United States, and particularly to the many Caribbean-American citizens in our country. I look forward to working with the Caribbean-American diaspora to ensure that they can provide input to the State Department and USAID on U.S. relations with the Caribbean in the years ahead. With constant crises around the globe that demand U.S. attention, we must not lose sight of our long-term interests close to home.”
“I am honored to work alongside my friend and colleague Eliot Engel in order to send this important legislation aimed at prioritizing our bilateral relationships with allies in the Caribbean to the president’s desk,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Tuesday. “We must strengthen our relationship with Caribbean nations so that they view the U.S. as a reliable partner and push back against the negative influence of Maduro’s corrupt regime in the region. It is vital to work proactively and collaboratively with Caribbean nations to promote close cooperation in the areas of security, trade, illicit trafficking, and energy and I look forward to seeing this important legislation implemented in order to advance our own national security interests.”
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