[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GIFT PARCELS TO CUBA

  (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 indicate that I will be 
offering an amendment later to the State Department appropriation bill 
that will prohibit funds from being used to enforce new restrictions, 
new as of a year ago, that limit gift parcels to Cuba.
  This amendment is called the toothpaste and toilet paper amendment 
because we prohibit those personal hygiene items from being shipped 
from a family member in the United States to a family member in Cuba. I 
would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that that is not what this country is all 
about. That is not what we should be doing.
  When these new rules were promulgated, the Department of Commerce and 
the Department of State said we will come out and change those because 
of public input. Guess what? Over 1 year later, they have not. Those 
provisions remain in effect.
  Family members here in the United States are prohibited from sending 
toothpaste and toilet paper and other personal hygiene items to family 
members in Cuba. The people of Cuba have enough to deal with just 
living daily life there under a dictatorship. We need not burden them 
any further.

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