[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2353-S2354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. HEITKAMP (for herself, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Udall, and Mr. 
        Flake):
  S. 1049. A bill to allow the financing by United States persons of 
sales of agricultural commodities to Cuba; to the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I am proud to introduce today with my 
friend from Arkansas, Senator Boozman, a bill which will increase our 
agricultural producer's competitiveness and exports into Cuba, a nation 
just 90 miles off our southern coast. This timely bill would make 
relatively simple changes to our country's burdensome regulations and 
help make our agricultural exporters more competitive at a time in 
which expanding sales and supporting prices is incredibly important.
  When people think of Cuba, they don't usually think of North Dakota, 
but they should. When I traveled to Cuba with Senators Tester and 
Sanders last year, I saw first-hand just how compatible North Dakota's 
agricultural production is with the diet of the Cuban people. There are 
incredible export opportunities for North Dakota's pulse producers, 
along with exports of soybean products, corn, wheat, barley, beef, and 
more. Unfortunately, under current regulations, our government is 
preventing North Dakota's producers from competing in a market in which 
we should hold majority market share.
  Yesterday, the Agriculture Committee held a hearing on opportunities 
and challenges for agricultural trade with Cuba. Aside from lifting the 
Cuba embargo altogether, the number one barrier we heard about was the 
fact that our exporters are prohibited from offering credit for sales 
into Cuba. Meanwhile, our competitors from Canada, Brazil, Vietnam, and 
Europe, are offering credit and pushing our farmers

[[Page S2354]]

out of a market in which we should be dominant.
  The Agricultural Export Expansion Act would remove that barrier and 
put our producers on a more level playing field with our competitors. 
It modifies a provision of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 
Enhancement Act to allow for exporters and banks to offer private 
credit for agricultural exports to Cuba. Let me be clear: this bill 
does not allow for involvement from the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's export credit guarantee program or the Export-Import 
Bank, and no taxpayer dollars will be at risk if Cuba were to default 
on a deal. This bill simply allows the market and private industry to 
dictate the terms of sale, weighing all of the risks and benefits, like 
they do with every other country in the world.
  With the current low commodity prices, we should be doing everything 
we can to support our agricultural producers, and to me this just makes 
sense. Even if Cuba were to buy all of their wheat from Kansas and 
soybeans from Arkansas, a bushel sold is a bushel sold, and all of our 
producers will benefit.
  This bill is also good for the people of Cuba. Making trade more 
efficient and affordable will allow us to provide food to Cuba's 
population. Given our proximity and our agricultural industry's 
incredible diversity, we can support both the people of Cuba and our 
producers by removing this one unnecessary regulation. I hope our 
colleagues will join us in this important effort to help our producers 
be more competitive into this natural market.
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