Lincoln Diaz-Balart

The legislation is important, does a number of important things in the field of hiring and training government personnel and appropriations for improvement in technology and infrastructure, measures for access to and coordination of law…

Mr. Speaker, this year has made us especially sensitive to how precious life is--and how tragedy can befall each of us without warning. I extend my own personal condolences--as well as through this resolution--to those who lost loved ones…

Mr. Speaker, the attacks of September 11 have forced the American people and this Congress to recognize that the threat of terror is present on many fronts. To adequately protect the United States, we must address all of our security…

among the many foreigners who have recently gone to Communist Cuba to meet with the dictator has been the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. He arrived there this last weekend, held the customary long meetings with the dictator; and then…

Mr. Speaker, this is a crucial moment, a crossroad for democracy in the Western Hemisphere. I recognize that there are legitimate concerns anytime Congress cedes authority granted to it by the Constitution. I, in fact, opposed granting…

I am a strong believer and always have been in free trade among free peoples. There are four democracies in this hemisphere, allies of the United States, facing tremendous challenges, not the least of which is narcotrafficking. The…

I ask my colleagues to reject the Democrat leadership bill, among other reasons because it discriminates against American citizens who are naturalized if they have not been citizens of the United States for 5 years. It creates a category…

this great Nation is a Nation made from many origins but with a national identity and a national cohesion, a nationhood, which is almost unprecedented in the history of the world. Yet American patriotism is not threatening to others…

Yesterday, terrorists attempted to spread fear throughout this great land as they murdered innocent men, women and children. These cowards, in effect, declared war on the United States; and we will fight back. America is the light of…

Mr. Chairman, let us cut to the chase here. Castro is 75 years old. He collapsed a few weeks ago and those surrounding him in the power clique were terrorized. His days are numbered. What we are talking about today is the future of Cuba…

I was having a conversation with a colleague last night about this issue. He said a dissident came from Cuba and lobbied against the embargo. I tried to point out that if the totalitarian regime in Cuba allows one to come to the United…

I rise in support of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Extension Act. I do not believe that now is the time to end the provisions set out under ILSA. While I hope that the internal situation in Iran and Libya may one day merit lifting the…

today is the 40th birthday of a brave human rights activist and pro-democracy leader, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, who at this moment finds himself serving a prison sentence in a Cuban gulag for peacefully protesting for democracy in Cuba…

I talked to my son Danny today. He is 16 years old. He is no owner of one of these houses. He and his friends, however, through the generosity and the courtesy of the folks that lease here, they go out there and they fish and they swim. I…

I wish to say that it is the Bush administration, Madam Speaker, which has demonstrated their possession of the dignity as well as the vision to introduce precisely the resolution in Geneva that this resolution before us today is in…

late last night I was walking through what I consider these hallowed halls, and I came across near the Rotunda two monuments, statues, of two universal men who I am thinking about at this time. One is Kossuth, the apostle of Hungarian…

despite the visitors, some from this body, who are going down to meet with the Cuban dictator and come back thrilled, having drooled with the privilege of meeting with him and having a banquet in his palace, the reality of Cuba today is…

I wish to echo the sentiments of the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Shaw, about the FIU Southeast Environmental Research Center and reinforce the important contributions that the Center has made in the area of monitoring assessments in the…

Mr. Speaker, the reality of the matter is that, first of all, as I stated in my statement previously, there is a difference of opinion with regard to the travel issue. By the way, the travel issue was brought to the floor here on a…

to those who support the dictatorship, I am not addressing these words but, rather, to those who think that American business is being somehow left out of Cuba at this point by not dealing with the dictatorship. The Cuban people, since…

I am not ashamed of what the American people, through their Congress, do in foreign aid. We are spending $13.340 billion. That is $13,340 billion in this bill for assistance for peoples in other countries, for the poor and the needy in…

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the statement made by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) who just spoke, no, there is no comparison between what is going on here this evening and what goes on in Castro's Cuba. I wish that I could…

Mr. Speaker, I wish that once, just once, the colleagues who get up and with such passion, and the word ``passion'' has been used so often this evening, talk about their objection to financing and credits and trade with that brutal…

Mr. Speaker, I vigorously, obviously, disagree with the merits of what the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley) has just said. The gentleman from Massachusetts has a number of others who are here ready to speak and consistently come…

But this is important legislation. The OPEC countries are about to meet. They are following this vote. The message must be sent clearly that Congress stands firm behind a policy that says that this must be taken with all due seriousness…