Political Quotes

“Mr. President, there is a lot of conversation in the building today about one of the provisions that is holding up the omnibus; they are saying this is Cuba travel, families traveling back to Cuba. I have strong opinions about that as well. Suffice it to say that it is important to let my colleagues know what is being asked for in the omnibus, and what will be coming over here if it is kept in, will not prohibit families from traveling to Cuba. It will limit the amount that they can. That is a wise policy, one that I support, because it limits access to hard currency to a tyrannical regime. I am here to talk about a different part of the Cuba policy, however, Cuban travel, which does not get a lot of notice these days, but it is part of conversations that are ongoing with the administration and the State Department with regard to some of the appointments they have in the Western Hemisphere, and that is the so-called people-to-people travel. I have here in my hand an immediate release from January 14, 2011, titled ``Reaching Out to the Cuban People.'' It came from the President, where he announced a series of steps to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country's future. One of the changes they made is to something they call purposeful travel.…”