Bill Nelson: “Senator Baucus and I see eye to eye on about 95 percent of the issues in front of the Senate. This is one we do not…”

“Senator Baucus and I see eye to eye on about 95 percent of the issues in front of the Senate. This is one we do not agree on. I thank Senator Baucus for withdrawing his amendment. He has been an outspoken and very articulate spokesman for his point of view of wanting agricultural products to go to Cuba. And coming from his State of Montana, I certainly understand that. There is a greater issue here, in this Senator's opinion, and that is the issue of the foreign policy of the United States. This Senator believes this issue ought to be a foreign policy debate on the future of the relationship of the United States with Cuba. There will be an appropriate forum in which we can engage in that debate. I believe that debate will come sooner than later because there is change in the air and change on the island of Cuba. Fidel is transitioning out. Raul is transitioning in. There is a great deal of unrest among the people, increasingly in a police state that has been so effective in tamping down any dissent over the course of the last four decades. Increasingly we are seeing the people of Cuba start to resist, to dissent, and to do it openly. We are right on the cusp of the Castro government starting to disintegrate and being unable to cow the people by imprisoning them as they have in the past. What, therefore, should be the foreign policy of the United States when we are right at this moment of change?”