Timothy Roemer: “I want to first of all state my admiration for the sponsor of this motion. This motion is a promotion of democracy. It…”

“I want to first of all state my admiration for the sponsor of this motion. This motion is a promotion of democracy. It is for free trade and it is to replace a 40-year-old failed policy with a new idea on foreign policy. As a new Democrat, as a member of the Cuban Working Group which is a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, I rise in strong support of this motion. Mr. Speaker, unilateral sanctions on humanitarian products such as food and medicine have been ineffective, totally ineffective, in trying to influence and change the Cuban Castro regime for the past 40 years. This motion is not even a motion to remove the embargo, which 85 percent of Americans would probably support, this motion simply lets the private sector move forward without restrictions for our agricultural community to do trade with Cuba. This is modest. This is a small step forward for freer trade and replacing a failed policy. Unilateral sanctions have failed, and they have hurt our farmers across the board. It is not a way to implement American foreign policy. This embargo is hurting Indiana farmers. If we somehow were to get this embargo replaced, the impact on agricultural products, fisheries, and forest products to Cuba from Indiana alone would reach an annual export rate of $29 million, and create 791 new jobs in our State. That is a good policy for Indiana and for farmers and for our economy. Mr. Speaker, let me close with this. We now trade with Vietnam, whom we fought a war with.…”