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.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I am always intrigued when I hear about how the United States and measures that the United States can take to help liberate people who are oppressed is anti-family. I am also very intrigued when I do not hear that the cause of all of the problems that the Cuban people suffer from, it is only one individual and his regime, the Castro regime, the anti-American, terrorist regime.

What is pro-family is helping the Cuban people liberate themselves from that regime. What is anti-family is a regime that has destroyed family, a whole Nation, a whole people. So measures that help that anti-family, pro-terrorist regime, measures that help that regime cannot be called pro-family. They are an anti-American terrorist regime.

I am also frankly rather amused when I see letters. Last year I quoted a letter from a Member of Congress on this floor who just spoke right now, about his concern for Cuban Americans. You see, because let us keep that in mind, this amendment only affects Cuban Americans. That is it. Nobody else. And then this amendment, I guess as we had heard before, a little while ago, claims that it knows what is right for Cuban Americans better than Cuban Americans.

We have heard that before. We have heard those similar debates on this floor year after year after year. Pretty soon we are going to hear, Some of my good friends are Cuban Americans.

Well, the reality is this: There is a bipartisan group of us here who represent a majority of the Cuban Americans. Every 2 years we run for reelection, election or reelection, and we do not have to be shown a picture of one individual or two individuals. We represent the vast majority of Cuban Americans. We represent the vast majority of the family members of those people in Cuba. And I keep hearing about how others from other parts of the country seem to know what is right for this group of Hispanics. They know better than those Hispanics know. They know better than that minority group knows about what is best for them.

Well, the reality, Mr. Chairman, is this: I repeat, there are four of us that represent the vast majority of Cuban Americans, the only people affected by this amendment, the only people affected by this amendment. And unanimously those four Members of Congress, one happens to be a Democrat, the other ones happen to be Republicans, all agree unanimously on what is right to help the Cuban people be free, what is right for Cuban Americans in this country.

What is right for them is to not help the Castro regime by allowing it to get more money, to not help that anti-American terrorist regime by allowing it to get more money.

My dear friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch), who has always been on the right side of this issue on the major parts, said today, and I just want to make sure there is no confusion, that what we are talking about here is people cannot go to Cuba and stay at the expensive hotels. Well, wait a second. They could until the new measures put in place by President Bush. Until those new measures, yes, they could.

So to my good friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch), I think he may be a little bit confused as to what this amendment does. If this amendment were to pass then, yes, people could go and travel as many times as they wanted to stay in the most expensive hotels, by the way, all of them run and owned by the Cuban military, by that oppressive military of that anti-American terrorist regime. If this amendment passes, what my good friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch), said that is not happening would happen and could happen.

I am amazed, Mr. Chairman, that people claim they know what is best for areas that are very far away from them and that they know what is best for certain groups, happens to be a Hispanic, large Hispanic group, that they know best. No, those Hispanics, the people that they elect are wrong. They do not know how to elect the right people, so it is up to somebody from way other parts of the country to tell those Hispanics, that minority group, what is really good for them. That is at best patronizing, and there could be some other words that could be used as well.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, it is amazing how history repeats itself. I was not here during the whole South Africa debates, but I heard them. During those South Africa debates, we had those who said we should do business as usual with South Africa to help the blacks in South Africa; that we should be able to do all sorts of business, and by the way, we did business with South Africa, business as usual, forever. Did it help the oppressed people under apartheid? No.

And, Mr. Chairman, when those oppressed people had an opportunity to vote, finally, after many, many years, they did not support those that wanted to do business as usual; that talked about doing business as usual. They supported those that led the efforts to sanction the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Many people on this floor, some who are still here, voted for sanctions against South Africa and yet vote to lift sanction against Cuba using the same argument. I saw just a month ago people on this floor who are against sanctioning the anti-American terrorist regime 90 miles away from the United States vote and speak for sanctions against China. It is interesting how this double standard is so prevalent.

Again, history repeats itself. Those who said we should do business as usual in South Africa to help the oppressed were wrong, and when the oppressed people had an opportunity to speak, they showed how wrong they were. Dr. Biscet and others will have an opportunity to speak, and I think there will be a lot of red faces of those that say they are doing it to help the oppressed people. We do not help the oppressed people by helping to finance the oppressor.

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