Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “I thank my wonderful friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), for his steadfast leadership throughout the years…”

“I thank my wonderful friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), for his steadfast leadership throughout the years in favor of human rights; and that is really what is before us today. I know that it is tempting to make quips and jokes about this situation. It is not very funny to the Cuban people. It goes at their expense, but I want to point out some of the facts that have been misrepresented on the other side. There will be no soap police. There will be no deodorant police. I know this is so funny. There is not much laughter in Cuba since Castro took office illegally. There will be no shampoo police because of these regulations, no toothpaste police. Call the Commerce Department and find out what the regulations say. All of those goods will be allowed to go into Cuba. Call the Commerce Department tomorrow and my colleagues will read what the regulations say. Please read them. I rise in strong opposition to the Flake amendment. Mr. Chairman, after the deplorable attacks against our Nation on September 11, we committed ourselves to denying terrorists and their sponsors the financial resources to threaten the United States and our allies and our interests, and this became the pillar of our foreign and our domestic policy in our war against terrorism.”