Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “We need to take swift action before we are facing a similar situation--a crisis in Nicaragua--that we face in Venezuela.”

As a person who lost her native homeland, Cuba, to communism, where we don't have elections, I always say that it is wonderful to get interrupted by elections and by votes.

I am proud to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and the author of this measure.

In 2014, we supported a resolution that this committee passed--Jim McGovern's House Resolution 418, which called for an end to persecution.

This important resolution condemns the Maduro regime for its role in the deterioration of Venezuela's democratic institutions.