[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 76 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HON. HENRY HYDE AND THE HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the chairman of the Committee on 
International Relations, and also the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ros-Lehtinen), who worked with me yesterday to attach an amendment to 
the State Department authorization bill to allow some of the funding 
that we provide to the State Department to be spent on scholarships and 
other programs for Cubans.
  For years, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars at the State 
Department on public diplomacy programs that have helped individuals in 
countries transitioning to a democracy. Yet Cuba has been excluded from 
this. If there is any country that needs this help and a people that 
need this help, it is the country of Cuba.
  So now the State Department has been directed to spend at least $5 
million in Fulbright scholarships, Ben Gilman scholarships, Truman 
scholarships and others to bring worthy Cubans here to the United 
States to study and help reverse the tide recently of less contact with 
the Cuban people, to actually have more contact.
  This is significant. Again, I pay tribute to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) 
for working with me on this.

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