[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 16327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            EMBARGO ON CUBA

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this morning we voted on cloture on the 
motion to proceed to the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill. I rise to 
address an issue that will certainly arise in the debate. The issue is 
the U.S. embargo on Cuba as it relates to food and medicine.
  Earlier this month, I traveled to Havana along with Senators Roberts 
and Akaka. It was a brief trip, but it gave us an opportunity to meet 
with a wide range of people. We met with Cuban Cabinet Ministers and 
dissidents, with the head of the largest NGO in Cuba, and also with a 
good number of foreign ambassadors, and with President Fidel Castro 
himself. I might say that was a marathon 10-hour session, about half of 
it dining.
  I left those meetings more convinced than ever that it is time to end 
our cold war policy towards Cuba. We should have normal trade relations 
with Cuba. Let me explain why.
  First, this is a unilateral sanction. Nobody else in the world 
supports it. Not even our closest allies. Unilateral economic 
sanctions, don't make sense unless our national security is at stake. 
Forty years ago Cuba threatened our national security. The Soviet Union 
planted nuclear missiles in Cuba and aimed them at the United States. 
Twenty years ago, Cuba was still acting as a force to destabilize 
Central America.
  Those days are gone. The missiles are gone. The Soviet Union is gone. 
Cuban military and guerilla forces are gone from Central America. The 
security threat is gone. But the embargo remains.
  My reason for my opposing unilateral sanctions is entirely pragmatic. 
They don't work. They never worked in the past and they will not work 
in the future. Whenever we stop our farmers and business people from 
exporting, our Japanese, European, and Canadian competitors rush in to 
fill the gap. Unilateral sanctions are a hopelessly ineffective tool.
  The second reason for ending the embargo is that the US embargo 
actually helps Castro.
  How does it help Castro? I saw it for myself in Havana. The Cuban 
economy is in shambles. The people's rights are repressed. Fidel Castro 
blames it all on the embargo. He uses the embargo as the scapegoat for 
Cuba's misery. Without the embargo, he would have no one to blame.
  For the past ten years I have worked towards normalizing our trade 
with China. My operating guideline has been ``Engagement Without 
Illusions.'' Trade rules don't automatically and instantly yield trade 
results. We have to push hard every day to see that countries follow 
the rules. That's certainly the case with China.
  I have the same attitude towards Cuba. Yes, we should lift the 
embargo. We should do it without preconditions and without demanding 
any quid pro quo from Cuba. We should engage them economically. But we 
should do so without illusions. Once we lift the embargo, Cuba will not 
become a major buyer of our farm goods or manufactured products 
overnight.
  We need to be realistic. With Cuba's failed economy and low income, 
ending the embargo won't cause a huge surge of U.S. products to Cuba. 
Instead, it will start sales of some goods, such as food, medicine, 
some manufactures, and some telecom and Internet services.
  In addition, ending the embargo will increase Cuban exposure to the 
United States. It will bring Cubans into contact with our tourists, 
business people, students, and scholars. It will bring Americans into 
contact with those who will be part of the post-Castro Cuba. It will 
spur more investment in Cuba's tourist infrastructure, helping, even if 
only a little, to further develop a private sector in the economy.
  In May of this year, I introduced bipartisan legislation that would 
repeal all of the Cuba- specific statutes that create the embargo. That 
includes the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. I 
look forward to the day when that legislation will pass and we have a 
normal economic relationship with Cuba.
  Until that day, I support measures such as this amendment which 
dismantle the embargo brick by brick. The sanctions on sales of food 
and medicine to Cuba are especially offensive.
  Last year, legislation to end unilateral sanctions on food and 
medicine passed the Senate by a vote of 70 to 28. That legislation was 
hijacked by the House in conference. This year we passed similar 
legislation again as part of the Agriculture appropriations bill. I 
hope our conferees stand firm and ensure its passage this year, with 
one correction.
  This year the sanctions provisions of the Agriculture appropriations 
bill contain a new requirement. The bill requires farmers who want to 
sell food to foreign governments of concern to get a specific license. 
That is needless red tape which will make it harder to export. Last 
year the bill we passed had no such licensing requirement. We should 
strike that provision in the Agriculture appropriations conference this 
year.
  When we begin debate on the bill, one of my colleagues will offer an 
amendment to address unilateral sanctions on food and medicine from a 
different angle. The amendment will cut off funding to enforce and 
administer them. The House passed a similar measure by a substantial 
majority. We should do the same in the Senate.
  Mr. President, I hope that all of my colleagues will vote in favor of 
this amendment and will support the ultimate lifting of the entire Cuba 
trade embargo.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona is recognized.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Will the Senator yield for a unanimous-consent request?
  Mr. McCAIN. Yes.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent when Senator 
McCain and Senator Gorton are finished, I might be recognized 
thereafter. Senator Wyden is here and he has no objection. He is 
joining me.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is the consent request that after Senator 
McCain and Senator Gorton speak----
  Mr. DOMENICI. I be recognized to introduce a bill, and then that 
Senator Wyden follow me.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. And Senator Voinovich after that?
  Mr. DOMENICI. Yes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Arizona is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. McCain and Mr. Gorton pertaining to the 
introduction of S. Res. 344 are located in today's Record under 
``Submission of concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  (The remarks of Mr. Domenici and Mr. Wyden pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 2937 are located in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

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