Sam Farr: “Almost every country in this hemisphere and almost every country in the world has normal trade relations with Cuba. We…”

“Almost every country in this hemisphere and almost every country in the world has normal trade relations with Cuba. We are trying to open those up so that businesses in America, particularly our agriculture and our other trading goods, can take advantage of the market in Cuba--not a big one, but an important one--because it is so close to shore. What this amendment does is it stops all of that. It targets the Cuban military by saying that anything related to the Cuban military and what they own, which is a lot of businesses in Cuba, may not be used to facilitate, permit, license, or promote exports to the Cuban military or intelligence services or the immediate families thereof. This is what is really so damaging. The term ``immediate family,'' as described in the bill, means a spouse, sibling, son, daughter, parent, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. Now, how does a businessperson in the United States know if any of those people are working for any of the agencies that this bill restricts from? It hurts American businesses, and it hurts Cubans. Let's stop living in the past. Let's strike this provision in the bill and support my amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.”