Lateefah Simon: “It does not make sense. The bill that is before the Senate, among other things, codifies existing sanctions. That means…”

“It does not make sense. The bill that is before the Senate, among other things, codifies existing sanctions. That means, and I say to my colleague from Georgia and I say to my colleague from Wyoming, if Bob Dole is elected President of the United States and wants some flexibility in dealing with Cuba, we have taken that away. I think we ought to leave flexibility in the hands of the President of the United States. Canada's Trade Minister, quoting in the Washington Post: ``If the United States wants to get at Cuba, that's one thing. But what they are doing here is contrary to the relationship we have had with them and it is a violation of NAFTA.'' That is the Trade Minister of Canada. I read, and I regret I did not cut out an article by a woman professor who is a Cuban exile who said we are just playing into Castro's hands. What he wants is for the United States to beat up on Castro so he can say, ``I am standing up to this big bully.'' In the Washington Post, March 3, Louis F. Desloge had an article in which he says, talking about this bill, ``They may very well achieve just the opposite of what they seek by buttressing, not undermining, Castro's support at home and weakening, not strengthening, the embargo's prohibition on trade with Cuba.'' This is a Cuban-American exile. This whole thing just does not make sense. The only thing that makes sense is yielding to the national passion and yielding to electoral politics. It is not good foreign policy. I will vote against it.”