[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 5, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H2641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE POLICY OF NOT USING FOOD AS A WEAPON IS GOOD POLICY

  (Mr. NETHERCUTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NETHERCUTT. Mr. Speaker, there is no more fundamental need of 
human beings than the need for food and medicine. For years, our 
country has had a policy of imposing unilateral economic sanctions on 
nations of the world with which we disagree, nations like Iran and 
Libya and North Korea and many others.
  If one is a farmer in America, this policy has hurt American 
agricultural exports, especially if other nations of the world do not 
impose such sanctions and are free to trade with such enemy nations.
  Earlier this year, I introduced H.R. 212, a bill which lifts 
sanctions on food and medicine so that we can sell our commodities to 
these nations, subject to the President reinstating those sanctions if 
doing so is in the national security interest.
  Last week, the President, by administrative order, lifted sanctions 
on food and medicine to Iran, Libya and Sudan. This can result in the 
likely sale of $500 million in wheat sales to American agriculture. The 
policy of not using food as a weapon is good policy, and I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 212.

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