[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 65 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4550-S4551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I want to say a word on another matter, 
if I might, about a speech given by President Bush this morning.
  President Bush, this morning, gave another speech about Cuba and 
said: No, our 40 years of embargo against Cuba really work. We want to 
continue this embargo. And we want to get even tougher now.

  The President is going to Florida this evening for a $25,000-per-
person fundraiser. I suspect there is a lot of politics and probably 
very little policy in this speech. But let me say this: I do not think 
it does anything to hurt Fidel Castro to continue an embargo that has 
failed for 40 years.
  An embargo that punishes Americans for traveling in Cuba, an embargo 
that makes it impossible, and now difficult, for our farmers to sell 
into Cuba, is not an embargo, in my judgment, that represents this 
country's best policy interests. It does not make any sense for me to 
embrace policies that don't allow Fidel Castro to ever miss a meal. He 
has never missed breakfast, lunch, supper, or dinner because of these 
embargoes. It is just poor, sick, and hungry people in Cuba who have 
been injured by these policies.
  This 40-year embargo is at odds with everything else we are doing. We 
say, let's trade with Communist China. Why? Because China is a 
Communist country, yes. But trading with them will actually open up 
opportunities and bring democracy to China more quickly. We say, let's 
do that same thing with Vietnam. Yes, it is a Communist country, but 
engaging with Vietnam will have more impact than not engaging.
  If that is the case, why is that not the case with Cuba? The answer 
is, of

[[Page S4551]]

course it is the case. It is just that there is a barrelful of politics 
and a teaspoonful of policy in these pronouncements we have heard this 
morning.
  My hope is just as the Senate has expressed itself with 70 percent of 
the Senate, saying that what we ought to do with Cuba is what we do 
with China and Vietnam: Open up that market. The quickest way to get 
rid of Fidel Castro, in my judgment, and move to democratic reforms is 
for Americans to travel in Cuba, for Americans to trade with Cuba, and 
that replacing the policy of failure for 40 years makes much more sense 
for this country.
  Madam President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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