Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007
FARM, NUTRITION, AND BIOENERGY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 27, 2007)
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate Chairman Peterson for an excellent farm bill which I support and look forward to supporting, assuming this amendment is not added to it.
I do have the utmost respect for the gentleman from New York and have enjoyed my time serving with him in the House of Representatives, but I rise in opposition to his amendment which provides the Cuban regime with the ability to open bank accounts in the United States and obtain visas for regime officials to visit U.S. production facilities.
I strongly support the farm bill, but this amendment needlessly adds a volatile political issue to this important bill.
Cuba is one of five countries in the world that is a state sponsor of terror, along with North Korea, Iran, Syria and Sudan. This amendment would allow access to our financial institutions by a regime that is and maintains close relationships with other state sponsors of terrorism.
Recently, we have been especially vigilant about not allowing access to our financial institutions since 9/11. We adopted the Bank Secrecy Act. We have made sure there are countless accountability measures to ensure that financial institutions have the ability
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to protect themselves from people who would do us harm, and this amendment would go in the opposite direction.
Additionally, regular Cuban citizens are prohibited from engaging in private economic activity; thus, general agricultural licenses will only serve the purpose of allowing agents of the Cuban Government into the United States.
Finally, I want to remind Members that while the Castro regime seeks U.S. concessions to finance its existence, it has consistently rejected offers of direct U.S. humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.
I ask my colleagues to vote against this amendment. The Cuban people stand at the cusp of actualizing their dreams of freedom. It is our duty to stand by them during this historic time.
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