Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 21, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 770 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 5025.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Chairman, I listen to this debate and I am stunned, and I find it staggering that we are flying in the face of family values, of family reunification. And because of some people's interest or disinterest or dislike or hate or whatever the range of emotions are about an individual, we really are destroying the fabric of life for Cuban Americans and their families who are in Cuba.
These regulations will disrupt the lives of thousands of Cuban Americans in the United States. It will do nothing to improve human rights. It will do nothing to improve human rights. It will do nothing to bring democracy to that island. Why are we penalizing the good people of Cuba and the people here in the United States who have family there; whose only thought is how they might be reunified with their family, especially if there is a time of need, especially if there is illness, especially if there is a death? What is wrong with us that we do not understand this; and that we only care about family values if we have people living in a democracy?
But for those who do not, and that could be in a lot of places all over this world, we say: Be gone; we are not interested in what your lives are about. Is that what the United States of America is all about?
Close relatives have been able to visit their families once every 12 months. These new regulations say once every 3 years and 14 days at a time. My colleagues have mentioned that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere says an individual can decide when they want to travel once every 3 years, and the decision is up to them. So if they have a dying relative, they have to figure out when they want to travel. So much for compassionate conservatism.
Rules drastically limit the amount of money Cuban-Americans can bring back to their family members. Funds do not prop up the Castro regime, but they certainly do support families who at this moment are recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan.
Other changes in our Cuba policy will be similarly ineffective, including preventing high school students from visiting the island, prohibiting university trips shorter than 10 weeks. And this will effect a democratic change in Cuba?
I am the daughter of immigrants, Italian immigrants. My father was born in Italy. We have relatives in Italy. He and my mom would go to the bank on a weekend, take some money out, whatever they could afford, to get it back to the family there. There was a tie between that town of Scafati, Italy, and New Haven, Connecticut, where people could come together and support their families. When there was a problem, my dad could visit or my mom could visit with him.
It does not make sense to punish families. Let us stand up for Cuban-American families. Members can be opposed to Castro, but Members cannot be opposed to the Cuban people, whether they are in Cuba or whether they are in the United States. I understand this experience. So many in this body understand that experience. Let us support this amendment of my colleague from Florida. Let us understand what family values are all about, and let us not pick and choose whose families we want to be united or reunited.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT