[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15322-S15326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY [LIBERTAD] ACT OF 1995

  The Senate continued with consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 2934

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pending business is the Simon amendment 
numbered 2934. There are 4 minutes of debate equally divided.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded. 

[[Page S 15323]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, our parliamentary situation now I believe 
is that I have 2 minutes to speak on behalf of my amendment and my 
colleague from North Carolina has 2 minutes to speak in opposition.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, this is a fairly clear and simple issue: Do 
we follow the advice of people like President Eisenhower who said, 
``Any limitation on the right to travel can only be tolerated in terms 
of overriding requirements of our national security.''
  Americans can travel to North Korea and China. Name the dictatorship 
anywhere, we can travel there. The one country we cannot: Cuba. 
Citizens of every other country in the world can travel to Cuba, but 
Americans cannot do it legally.
  Now, we can go by way of Mexico or Canada and violate the law and do 
it, but that should not be the way we do things around here.
  It is very interesting that in the Soviet Union we had this same 
question: Should we cut them off and isolate them, or should we have 
American visitors who go there and help to ameliorate their policy? We, 
fortunately, made the right decision that Americans could travel there. 
That should be what we do today.
  Americans ought to have the right to travel anywhere where there is 
not a security risk for Americans. That ought to be part of the freedom 
that every American has.
  Mr. President, I know there will be a motion to table. I hope, 
despite that motion, the amendment will be agreed to.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I said earlier this morning when Senator 
Simon and I were on the floor together that this amendment has prompted 
the widest political legislative extremes in history: The State 
Department and Jesse Helms agree it is a very bad amendment.
  I believe the distinguished Senator from Florida [Mr. Graham] will 
move to table.
  This amendment undercuts the embargo that has been in effect for 
eight Presidents. It does not help the Cuban people. Tourism will not 
change Castro. In fact, it will merely contribute to Castro's economic 
status a little bit.
  I hope that the Senate will vote to table the amendment. I say that 
with all due respect to my friend and neighbor, Paul Simon.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAHAM. If I could use the remaining time of Senator Helms for 
the purpose of a couple of points. First, the current Cuban Democracy 
Act provides for limited travel under controlled circumstances to Cuba 
by three groups of Americans: those who are traveling for educational, 
religious, or humanitarian purposes. The President, within the last 2 
weeks, has given greater definition to who will fall within those three 
categories and will receive authorization to travel to Cuba.
  The basic prohibition on general travel is a cornerstone of the 
United States' effort to isolate the dictatorship in Cuba while we were 
attempting to reach out to the people of Cuba with a hand of 
friendship. If we were to eliminate this prohibition on travel, we 
would be pouring dollars into Castro's thin coffers, dollars which 
would allow him to continue to operate the most repressive state 
security apparatus left in the world, one which has set new standards 
for human rights abuses. We would also prop up his regime against the 
inexorable forces which are leading toward its downfall.
  Mr. President, I urge the defeat of this amendment by adopting the 
motion that I will offer to table the Simon amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Illinois wish to use his 
remaining 25 seconds?
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the assistance to Castro in terms of 
economic terms is almost nil. What this amendment does is give 
Americans the freedom that citizens in every other country in the world 
have: To travel to Cuba. I think that ought to be a basic right of 
Americans--to travel to any country where there is not a security 
threat.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I move to table the Simon amendment and 
ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to 
table the Simon amendment.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Delaware [Mr. Biden] is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 73, nays 25, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 492 Leg.]

                                YEAS--73

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Bradley
     Breaux
     Brown
     Bryan
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Exon
     Faircloth
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Heflin
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Nunn
     Pressler
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--25

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Bumpers
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Hatfield
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnston
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Leahy
     Levin
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Pell
     Pryor
     Simon
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Biden
       
  So the motion to lay on the table the amendment (No. 2934) was agreed 
to.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BYRD. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                     Amendments Nos. 2906 and 2908

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question now 
occurs on the en bloc consideration of amendments numbered 2906 and 
2908 offered by the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Dodd]. Debate is 
limited to 4 minutes equally divided in the usual form.
  Mr. DODD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, very briefly, the amendments we are about to 
vote on, or two amendments which were combined en bloc, deal with the 
issue of title II of this bill.
  Regardless of how anyone feels about the present government in Cuba, 
title II of this bill does not deal with the Castro government in Cuba. 
It deals with the next government in Cuba. It says that the next 
government in Cuba must meet a set of four pages of criteria before we 
can provide even transitional assistance to the next government in 
Cuba.
  Mr. President, I do not know what the next government in Cuba is 
going to look like. Hopefully, it will be a democratic government. But 
it seems to me that we ought not to be conditioning our assistance on 
some future government in Cuba in this piece of legislation.
  Whatever else we may want to do to the Castro government, why would 
we want to tie the hands of this administration or future 
administrations when you have a change in Cuba? If we applied the same 
rules and the same criteria that are located in title II of this bill, 
we would not be able to provide the transitional assistance to many of 
the New Independent States that have emerged after the collapse of the 
Soviet Union.
  I urge my colleagues in the next few minutes to just read sections 
205 through 208 of this bill. They are four pages of criteria. Whatever 
else you may feel about Fidel Castro, however you want to change the 
government in Cuba, do not make it impossible for this administration 
or the next one to 

[[Page S 15324]]
deal effectively with that new government. This amendment strikes those 
sections of the bill, and I urge adoption of the amendment.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished Senator from New 
Jersey.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. BRADLEY. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the amendment by 
the Senator from Connecticut. Title II is authored by the only Cuban-
American Democrat in the Congress, Bob Menendez of New Jersey. For 
once, we should be ready when the commander of a Communist dictatorship 
falls. All this says is when the dictatorship falls, we should have in 
place emergency relief measures and assistance that will effect the 
transition from a command economy to a market economy, from a 
totalitarian state to a democracy. It says for once let us be ready 
when a Communist dictator falls.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. In that connection, let me read one paragraph from a 
letter dated today by Congressman Menendez to the distinguished 
minority leader, Mr. Daschle:

       Dear Mr. Daschle. As the author of title II of the Helms-
     Burton Libertad legislation and the only Cuban American 
     Democrat in the Congress, I am writing to urge you to vote 
     against the Dodd amendments which seek to gut title II of the 
     legislation.

  I yield the remainder of my time to the distinguished Senator from 
Florida.
  Mr. GRAHAM addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I, too, rise in opposition to the 
amendments offered by our colleague from Connecticut. This proposal 
lays out a rational transition from the current authoritarian Communist 
regime to what we hope will soon be a democratic and marketplace 
political and economic system in Cuba. It is consistent with the 
provisions that were contained in the Cuban Democracy Act which was 
passed by this body by an overwhelming vote in 1993, but it continues 
the dual track of the United States providing pressure against the 
regime in Cuba while it opens up to the people of Cuba, including 
opening up with a clear statement of how we will assist the transition 
to democracy.

  Mr. President, I move to table the amendments of the Senator from 
Connecticut.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time has expired under the control of the 
Senator from North Carolina. The Senator from Connecticut has 21 
seconds.
  Mr. DODD. I yield back my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time has been yielded back.
  The question now occurs on agreeing to the motion to table the 
amendments numbered 2906 and 2908, en bloc. The yeas and nays have been 
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senate from Delaware [Mr. Biden] is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 64, nays 34, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 493 Leg.]

                                YEAS--64

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Bradley
     Breaux
     Brown
     Bryan
     Burns
     Campbell
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Faircloth
     Ford
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kerry
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Pressler
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Shelby
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--34

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Chafee
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Exon
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Glenn
     Harkin
     Hatfield
     Heflin
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnston
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kohl
     Leahy
     Levin
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Nunn
     Pell
     Pryor
     Sarbanes
     Simon
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Biden
       
  So the motion to lay on the table the amendments (Nos. 2906 and 2908) 
was agreed to.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. DOLE. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, what is the pending business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pending is the Helms amendment.
  Mr. DOLE. I ask that the yeas and nays be vitiated.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOLE. Have the yeas and nays been ordered on final passage?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not.
  Mr. DOLE. I ask for the yeas and nays on final passage.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. DOLE. How much time is left on the Helms amendment?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 10 minutes of debate on the Helms 
amendment.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we are about to conclude action on the Cuban 
Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. The Senate has spent a week on 
this bill. We had three cloture votes. A sustained lobbying campaign by 
the White House forced Chairman Helms to delete a significant section 
of the bill. The Senate will pass the bill today, and the conference 
will certainly address the issue of stolen property.
  I am confident that the House-Senate conference will be able to find 
a way to prevent Fidel Castro from using foreign investment to prolong 
his tyranny. That is the issue--do we want to allow the hemisphere's 
last dictator to replace his lost aid from the Soviet empire with 
western investment? The Senate will have another chance to address this 
issue when the conference report comes back.
  We should be clear on what is still in this bill. Title I strengthens 
the international embargo on Cuba. It requires the United States to 
oppose Cuban membership in international financial institutions. It 
conditions aid to Russia on an end to support for Cuba. It tightens the 
restrictions against the importation of Cuban sugar. And it authorizes 
assistance to the real victims of Castro's repression--the Cuban 
people.
  In the debate, some of the advocates of lifting the embargo have said 
this bill looks backward, that this bill does not respond to current 
conditions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Title II of the 
bill requires the President to look ahead--to look at the inevitable 
post-Castro period. Title II provides for support for a free and 
independent Cuba and authorizes suspension for the embargo and other 
restrictions once a transitional government is in place. Title II also 
provides incentives for a truly democratic government in Cuba.
  So I think the President, the Senate is going to speak loudly today--
in support of the Cuban people and in opposition to Fidel Castro. He 
should know that as he prepares to come to New York for whatever he is 
going to do at the United Nations. The White House has made its views 
known. By allowing Fidel Castro to enter the United States, and by 
vigorously lobbying against this bill, there is no doubt where they 
stand. Today, the Senate can make its views known, and I urge my 
colleagues to support the bill.
  I thank Senator Helms for his outstanding work on this issue.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I said at the very outset of this debate 
that when we consider legislation aimed at a foreign country, we ought 
to ask ourselves two basic questions. Is what is being proposed in the 
best interest of our Nation, and is it likely to achieve the desired 
results in the country in question--in this case, Cuba?
  I have had grave concerns, Mr. President, about title III of this 
bill. That 

[[Page S 15325]]
section has been taken out. I thank my colleagues for supporting us in 
that effort. Notwithstanding, however, Mr. President, this changed. The 
two basic questions I raised at the outset of these remarks remain. In 
my view, the answer to both of those questions, if one reads this bill 
carefully, is ``no.''
  It is not in our interest to complicate our relations with the 
governments of Russia or other New Independent State countries. Yet, 
provisions of this bill would do just that by linking our assistance to 
these countries, to their policies toward Cuba. We provide, Mr. 
President, assistance to Russia, and other of the New Independent 
States, because we want to see them carry out the kinds of programs 
that we are funding, because we want to continue to strengthen their 
still fragile democratic institutions. Conditioning, Mr. President, 
that assistance on what is going on in Cuba, I think, is 
counterproductive.
  Provisions of this bill ultimately hinge on our arms control treaties 
with Russia, specifically, on Russian verification of United States 
compliance. While it is certainly legitimate for the United States to 
discuss the types of activities that appropriately fall within the 
scope of verification of arms control treaties, that should be done 
bilaterally with the Government of Russia, not unilaterally imposed by 
the Congress in the context of a debate about Cuba.
  Other provisions of this bill bar Cuban participation in 
international financial institutions until after democracy has been 
established in that country. We all know, Mr. President, the critical 
roles played by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in the 
early days of Russia's transition to democracy. It is foolhardy, Mr. 
President, to prohibit the IMF and the World Bank from offering their 
assistance and expertise to a post-Castro government as it grapples 
with the complicated task of dismantling a command economy.
  Mr. President, I have already mentioned those provisions of the bill 
which my amendment would have sought to strike, provisions that 
severely limit the flexibility of the United States to respond to the 
change in Cuba when it comes. This bill could also have the United 
States spend more money on TV Marti, this time converting from VHF to 
UHF broadcasting. We all know that TV Marti has been a complete 
failure. GAO report after GAO report after GAO report has found that it 
is totally ineffective, that virtually nobody watches it, and that it 
is a total waste of taxpayer money.
  More than just the individual provisions of the bill, Mr. President, 
the entire thrust of this legislation makes no sense whatsoever. 
Calling Castro names does not get Cuba any closer to democracy. We have 
spent a week debating this. It is too long.
  Perhaps the only individual who will truly benefit from this debate 
is Fidel Castro. Once again, we have managed to make him larger than 
life. Once again, we have given him excuses on why his government has 
failed and why the Cuban economy is in a shambles. Once again, we will 
force our allies to come to his defense because they profoundly 
disagree with our tactics. None of this, Mr. President, makes any sense 
whatsoever. We all know that to be the case, but frankly, to state it 
bluntly, because of domestic political considerations, we continue to 
take actions counterproductive to our own self-interest. I urge defeat 
of this amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. HELMS. What is the time situation, Mr. President?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina has 3 minutes 
34 seconds. The Senator from Connecticut has a minute 26 seconds.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, passage of the Libertad bill will send a 
message that Congress wants a tightening of the screws on Fidel Castro.
  Castro knows that this bill will expedite his departure from power. 
Why on Earth would Castro have launched such a huge campaign against 
this bill if it wasn't harmful to his rule? He knows that the Libertad 
Act will help set the Cuban people free--free from oppression, free 
from communism, free from Castro's dictatorship.
  As several principal cosponsors of this bill have already stated on 
this floor, including Senators Dole and Gramm, we are going to fight 
hard--and I mean very hard--to keep the pressure on Castro--and on this 
administration to work for Castro's removal.
  Mr. President, let me say this: Fidel Castro is going to come to New 
York City this weekend to address the United Nations. Since the State 
Department has just given Mr. Castro a visa to enter this country, I 
want to give Mr. Castro an early Christmas gift to be delivered to the 
people of Cuba--a gift called the Libertad Act, on which we will vote 
final passage in a moment.
  I yield the remainder of my time.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I point out that Richard Nixon also gave 
Fidel Castro a visa to come to this country. That kind of political 
rhetoric does not advance our cause. He is going to be larger than life 
when he comes to the United Nations. What we do here today is going to 
make him a hero when he comes to the United Nations. I regret that. I 
yield back my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on 
agreeing to amendment No. 2936 by the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. 
Helms].
  The amendment (No. 2936) was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the substitute 
amendment No. 2898, as amended, offered by the Senator from Kansas [Mr. 
Dole].
  The amendment (No. 2898), as amended, was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment of the 
amendments and third reading of the bill.
  The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read a third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall the bill pass?
  The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Delaware [Mr. Biden] is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 74, nays 24, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 494 Leg.]

                                YEAS--74

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Bond
     Bradley
     Breaux
     Brown
     Bryan
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Exon
     Faircloth
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Heflin
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Pressler
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--24

     Akaka
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Dodd
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Hatfield
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnston
     Kennedy
     Leahy
     Levin
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Nunn
     Pell
     Pryor
     Simon
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
       Biden
       
  So the bill (H.R. 927), as amended, was passed.
  [The text of the bill will appear in a future edition of the Record.]
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the 
amendment was agreed to.
  Mr. COCHRAN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  (At the request of Mr. Ford, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, a serious family emergency in 
Pennsylvania has required me to leave this afternoon on the spur of the 
moment. Had I been present, I would have voted against the amendments 
offered by Senator Simon and Senator Dodd, and in favor of final 
passage of the bill.

[[Page S 15326]]

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I do not want my vote for final passage of 
H.R. 927, the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act to be 
misunderstood. I was strongly opposed to the centerpiece of the 
legislation--title III. This title would have altered 45 years of 
international and domestic law and practice with respect to the 
resolution of claims resulting from the expropriation of U.S. property 
abroad. I supported efforts to ensure that that title was deleted from 
the bill.
  I will oppose any conference report that restores this title or adds 
draconian provisions. I will join with my colleagues in utilizing all 
parliamentary procedures to ensure that a conference report containing 
what was title III is not enacted into law.

                          ____________________