John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, once upon a time, not too very long ago, this House passed two very forward-thinking amendments. One would…”

“Mr. Speaker, once upon a time, not too very long ago, this House passed two very forward-thinking amendments. One would have lifted the American embargo on food and medicine going to Cuba. It passed the House by a vote of 301-116. The other would have allowed American citizens to travel to Cuba. Mr. Speaker, that passed the House 232-186. Mr. Speaker, nobody has heard about them since. I have been to Cuba. I have seen the pain of the Cuban people. I have seen the children in Cuba suffer for lack of simple medical devices. Senior citizens in Cuba grow frail far sooner than they should for lack of modern medicine. Meanwhile, we in the United States have the world's best doctors, best hospitals, best researchers. We should be sharing those discoveries with our Cuban neighbors because it is the right thing to do, not denying them because we oppose Fidel Castro's policies. But this conference report will not let us do that. Mr. Speaker, this conference report subverts the will of the vast majority of the House, because the Republican leadership disapproves.”