[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H16649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IT IS TIME TO LIFT THE TRAVEL BAN 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, in the past 24 hours, we have heard word from 
Cuba that President Fidel Castro does not plan to return to power. This 
is good news, I think, for all of us. And this is not a surprise to 
those of us who have been watching Cuba. But here we are, as Americans, 
on the sidelines again still. For the past 40 years, we have been on 
the sidelines offering no influence whatsoever in what happens in Cuba.
  This is a travesty, Mr. Speaker. It is time for a get-tough policy 
with Cuba. It is time to allow Americans to travel there and spread 
freedom and influence. If we lift our travel ban, some say that Cuba 
will simply impose their own on us. But if somebody is going to limit 
my travel, it should be a communist, not my own government. We should 
let freedom ring here, and it will soon ring free in Cuba.

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