[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26225-26226]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FLORIDA STANDS AGAINST TERRORIST REGIMES

  (Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, on September 19, the 
State of Florida took a very principled stand against terrorist regimes 
by divesting roughly $1.3 billion of public employee retirement funds 
from companies that invest in Iran and Sudan. Iran is actively 
developing nuclear weapons despite protests from the international 
community and has repeatedly threatened to wipe the State of Israel off 
the map.
  Sudan continues to engage in genocide against its citizens, resulting 
in more than 400,000 deaths and more than 2 million people forced to 
seek refuge in neighboring countries. The American people's hard-earned 
money should not go towards helping state sponsors of terror or 
enhancing illegal nuclear programs.
  Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud of Florida and its leadership for 
taking this remarkable step on this issue, and I hope other States will 
join in this effort.

[[Page 26226]]

  Obviously, more can always be done to stop funding and to take 
funding away from state sponsors of terrorism, but this is an important 
step that the State of Florida has taken. For that, I commend the State 
of Florida and the State elected officials.

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