[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 41 (Thursday, March 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Cuba Trade Act

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak about 
legislation I have recently introduced, although it is a follow-on to 
legislation I pursued over a number of years.
  We have now introduced in this Congress the Cuba Trade Act. This is 
legislation which would lift the trade embargo to allow farmers and 
ranchers and small businesses and other private sector industries to 
freely conduct business, to sell products--agricultural products in 
particular--to the nation of Cuba and to its people.
  Last month, I spoke about the terrific difficulties our farmers in 
Kansas and across the country are facing due to low commodity prices. 
The farm economy has fallen by nearly 50 percent since 2013, and that 
decline is expected to continue in 2017, making this perhaps, if not 
the worst, certainly one of the worst economic downturns in farm 
country since the Great Depression.
  In 2016, harvests in our State and across much of the country were 
recordbreaking yields and historic in their magnitude, in fact. What 
that means is there are still piles of wheat, corn, and other grains 
all across Kansas just sitting on the ground next to the grain mill 
bins that are already filled to capacity. To sell this excess supply, 
our farmers need more markets to sell the food and fiber they produce.
  Approximately 95 percent of the world's customers live outside U.S. 
borders. Markets in the United States will continue to grow, and they 
will evolve and will continue to meet the domestic consumer demand, 
providing the best, highest quality, safest food supply in the world, 
but in order to boost prices for American farmers, we need more 
markets. We need them now, we need them in the future, and we need to 
be able to indicate to our farmers that hope is in the works in global 
markets.
  We have talked about the importance of trade, of exports from the 
United States, and particularly for the citizens of Kansas. That is 
particularly true for an agricultural State like ours where, again, 95 
percent of the consumers live someplace outside of the United States. 
Cuba is only 90 miles off our border. They offer the potential for 
increased exports of all sorts of products but especially Kansas wheat.
  In fact, while we are introducing this legislation now, we started 
down this path to increase our ability to sell agriculture commodities, 
food, and medicine to Cuba back when I was a Member of the House of 
Representatives. I offered an amendment then to an appropriations bill 
that lifted the embargo--the ability to sell; it would allow the 
ability to sell those foods, agricultural commodities, and medicine to 
Cuba for cash, up front. That bill was passed. It was controversial 
then. This issue of what our relationship ought to be with Cuba has 
always been contentious. But I remember the vote was about I think 301 
to 116. A majority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats said it 
is time to do something different with our relationship with Cuba.
  This was a significant step in opening up the opportunity to the 
products of American farmers and ranchers to that country. No longer 
were food, medicine, and agriculture commodities prohibited from being 
sold. And it worked for a little while, but unfortunately, in 2005, the 
Treasury Department changed the regulations, and it complicated the 
circumstances related to the embargo.
  Cuba imports the vast majority of its food. In fact, wheat is Cuba's 
second largest import, second only to oil.
  A point I would stress is that this is a unilateral sanction. Keep in 
mind that when we don't sell agricultural commodities to Cuba, somebody 
else does. While our unilateral trade barriers block our own farmers 
and ranchers from filling the market, willing sellers such as Canada, 
France, China, and others benefit at American farmers' expense. When we 
can't sell wheat that comes from a Kansas wheat field to Cuba, they are 
purchasing that wheat from France and Canada and other European 
countries. When the Presiding Officer's rice crop can't be sold to 
Cuba, it is not that they are not buying rice; they are buying it from 
Vietnam, China, or elsewhere.

  It costs about $6 to $7 per ton to ship grain from the United States 
to Cuba. It costs about $20 to $25 to ship that same grain from the 
European Union. However, we lose this competitive advantage because of 
the regulations in place that drive up the cost of Cuban consumers 
dealing with the United States.
  To understand what we are missing out on in Cuba, consider our 
current trade relationship with the Dominican Republic. The DR is also 
a nearby Caribbean nation with a population comparable to Cuba. Income 
levels and diet are similar. Between 2013 and 2015, the Dominican 
Republic imported an average of $1.3 billion of U.S. farm products. 
During that same time span, Cuba imported just $262 million--over $1 
billion in difference. That is right. That is $1 billion of exports 
that U.S. farmers are missing an opportunity on because of the U.S. 
trade restrictions on Cuba. This example helps illustrate the 
substantial potential that exists for increased sale of agriculture 
commodities to Cuba.
  The Cuba Trade Act I just introduced simply seeks to amend our own 
country's laws so that American farmers can operate on a level playing 
field with the rest of the world. While boosting American exports 
remains the primary goal of lifting the embargo, I also think there is 
an opportunity for us to increase the reforms and to improve the lives 
of the Cuban people as well.
  I have often said here on the Senate floor and on the House floor and 
back home in Kansas we often say: We will try something once. If it 
doesn't work, we might even try it again. Maybe we will try it a third 
or a fourth time. But after more than 50 years of trying to change the 
nature of the Cuban Government through this kind of action, through 
this embargo, many Kansans would say it is time to try something else.
  The Cuban embargo was well-intentioned at the time it was enacted. 
Today, however, it only serves to hurt our own national interests by 
restricting Americans' freedom to conduct business with that country. 
In my view, it is time to make a change, and we ought to be able to 
sell wheat, rice, and other agricultural commodities from the United 
States for cash to Cuba. This legislation would allow that at no 
expense to the American taxpayer.