Though I still have a few days left before the end of my term, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the constituents for allowing me to represent them in the U.S. House of Representatives for so many years. Whether it has been helping a veteran obtain the VA assistance he or she needs, or fighting for our Dreamers, or securing funds for important projects in our community, or passing critical legislation to help those oppressed by totalitarian regimes, or one of the many, many other duties that the people of south Florida have entrusted to me, I have been honored to serve them in this distinguished body for almost 30 years, and I have played a small part in making our slice of paradise an even better place in which to live. Every day when I come to this floor, when I walk these hallowed Halls, or when I look at that magnificent Capitol dome lit up, I pinch myself to make sure that I am not dreaming. That is because as a political refugee, I have a unique perspective on the greatness of our Nation. America opened its arms to my family and to me as we fled the Communist Castro regime. When we arrived in Miami, it was in one of the last commercial flights out of Cuba. I was only 8 years old. So to think that I have been elected to serve in the U.S.…
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More from Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
I am also proud to have authored the Venezuelan Human Rights and Democracy Protection Act and have helped secure the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Act.
I thank my friend, my colleague from Florida, for the time. Mr. Speaker, when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in the year 2007--and this was through legislation that I had the privilege of authoring with Tom Lantos…
It's important to note Ranking Member Engel's BURMA Act, which still needs to be passed and that aims to impose additional sanctions.
I include in the Record an exchange of letters. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC, December 12, 2018. Hon. Edward R. Royce, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Royce: I…





