[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3508-S3509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 482. Mr. BRAUN (for himself, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Cruz) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1790, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military activities 
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which 
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1290. SENSE OF SENATE CALLING FOR GREATER RELIGIOUS AND 
                   POLITICAL FREEDOMS IN CUBA.

       (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:

[[Page S3509]]

       (1) The Castro regime has used arbitrary incarcerations, 
     harassment, and intimidation to deny basic freedoms to 
     thousands of Cubans since the Cuban Revolution.
       (2) In April 2019, a family was sent to prison by 
     authorities in Cuba for homeschooling their children.
       (3) The children were enrolled in a Christian distance 
     school in Honduras.
       (4) The families involved, which included a pastor, cited 
     religious reasons for homeschooling their children.
       (5) The Government of Cuba has a history of arresting 
     individuals who chose to homeschool their children and 
     sentencing them to prison time and hard labor.
       (6) The Government of Cuba's insistence on state-controlled 
     education is a sign of authoritarianism, enabling them to 
     indoctrinate youth with a communist ideology.
       (7) Parents have the right to teach their children free 
     from the state indoctrination of an autocratic regime.
       (8) The United States Commission on International Religious 
     Freedom formerly condemned Cuba for actions pertaining to the 
     April 2019 imprisonment of those who homeschool their 
     children.
       (9) The United States has instituted an embargo on Cuba in 
     1960.
       (10) The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) 
     Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6021 et seq.) does not permit these 
     sanctions to be lifted until the Castro regime has been 
     deposed and Cuba has legalized political activity and made a 
     commitment to free and fair elections.
       (11) Despite the 2014 Executive branch decision to 
     normalize relations with Cuba, it is still in the power of 
     Congress to lift an embargo.
       (b) Sense of Senate.--The Senate--
       (1) expresses solidarity with the people of Cuba in their 
     pursuit of religious freedom;
       (2) calls on the Government of Cuba to release all 
     political prisoners, including those who have been imprisoned 
     for homeschooling their children;
       (3) calls on the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human 
     Rights to grant the Precautionary Measures requested on April 
     25, 2019;
       (4) calls on the Government of Cuba to recognize the right 
     of parents to teach their own children free from state 
     communist indoctrination;
       (5) calls on the Government of Cuba to institute democratic 
     reforms, including reforms that guarantee freedom of 
     religion; and
       (6) calls for the continued implementation of the Cuban 
     Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996.
                                 ______