Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I would like to use this time to engage in a colloquy with my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).
Instead of moving forward with my amendment, as I had intended, that would enable our agriculture producers to sell products to Cuba on credit for the next fiscal year, we have agreed to work together and find a long-term solution that will work for our agriculture producers over time.
Until today, there seemed to be no path forward for an agreement, but I have gotten commitments from the leadership and my friends from Florida that there will be a proper path forward. We have agreed to find a solution that does a number of things:
Supports a long-term solution for our agriculture producers to sell commodities to Cuban buyers by eliminating restrictions in current law that weaken our producers' competitiveness;
Lists a number of the impediments, a cash restriction being one of those, a cash requirement for purchases;
Support for the thorough examination of the Cuban market potential for agriculture producers through a deliberative process across each relevant committee of jurisdiction; and
Examines other long-term solutions that enable the United States to expand market access to the Cuban people.
At a time when net farm income has dropped by more than 55 percent, it is critical that we work together to find ways to make this work on a long-term basis because there is no easy fix. Our producers are ready to sell products to the 11 million people in Cuba that represent a market value in excess of $1 billion a year.
I thank the hard work and efforts of the agriculture, business, humanitarian, and religious organizations in supporting this amendment. I look forward to working with my colleagues from Florida, the committee chairs, the leadership, and the Agriculture Committee on a solution we can all agree on.
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