[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S1194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS EXPORT FACILITATION ACT OF 2005

  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today in support of a bill that will 
facilitate the sale of U.S. agricultural products abroad. I am 
delighted to join colleagues from both sides of the aisle in 
cosponsoring this bill, which will help remove potential impediments to 
the shipment of U.S. agricultural goods to Cuba.
  Cuba's geographic proximity to the U.S makes it an important market 
for U.S. exporters. This bill will maintain significant economic 
benefits not only for the farmers in my home State of Indiana, but for 
farmers throughout the country. Agricultural trade with Cuba is 
currently allowed under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 
Enhancement Act of 2000, TSREEA. This legislation was enacted in the 
106th Congress to provide additional markets for U.S. agricultural 
products and support the American farmer. I have long been an advocate 
of exercising care when imposing unilateral economic sanctions. 
Numerous studies have shown that unilateral sanctions rarely succeed 
and often harm the United States more than the target country. 
Sanctions can jeopardize billions of dollars in U.S. export earnings 
and hundreds of thousands of American jobs. They frequently weaken our 
international competitiveness by yielding to other countries those 
markets and opportunities that we abandon.
  There have been indications that TSREEA will be interpreted in a way 
that may serve to impede agricultural exports to Cuba, which is 
contrary to the original intent of the bill. This would be a departure 
from current policy and undermine the benefits for U.S. farmers which 
the act has achieved. Groups such as the American Farm Bureau have 
indicated that the opening up of Cuba as a market has provided 
significant benefit to their members.
  Without the important changes that this bill will make, the U.S. 
economy could be impacted, not only in agricultural exports, but also 
in related economic output. To prevent this occurrence and to help 
bolster the agricultural export industry in the U.S., I ask you to join 
me and the other co-sponsors in support of this important legislation.

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