Sam Farr: “I think we have to stop and listen and look at what is going on here. What we are talking about is regulations that went…”

“I think we have to stop and listen and look at what is going on here. What we are talking about is regulations that went into effect 7 days ago. These are new regulations. There was no oversight by Congress. We are providing the opportunity here to give that oversight and to do the checks and balances. The regulations are anti-American because they only affect us. They do not affect Cubans. We are the ones that cannot do this. Our government is telling us that we cannot be compassionate Americans. We cannot send seeds, cannot send clothing, cannot send fishing equipment, cannot send soap to people in another country. And we are going to have to have a police force that goes out and enforces that? That is not a compassionate America. We cannot be a country that says that we can leave no child behind when we cannot even send hygiene products to this country. We cannot. Americans cannot. We can send to every other kid in the world something that we cannot send to Cuba. That is not leave no child behind. What are we afraid of? What are we so afraid of that we have to make these regulations so restrictive that we Americans just cannot send a goodwill package to people? How are we going to have friendships? How are we going to instruct about democracy? How are we going to talk about this great country?”