John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, this bill has come to the floor through such a convoluted, twisted process I am surprised that it is here…”

“Mr. Speaker, this bill has come to the floor through such a convoluted, twisted process I am surprised that it is here at all. Mr. Speaker, this all started 2 months ago when an amendment to lift the American embargo on food and medicine to five countries passed the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, and later the full Committee on Appropriations as part of the agriculture appropriations bill. That amendment would have ended the horrible United States policy of denying people food and medicine just because we disagree with that country's leaders. This was a great step forward, Mr. Speaker. Not only for American farmers, but also for the residents of Cuba, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, and Iran. But evidently, the Miami Cuban community got wind of it and started their powerful lobbying wheels turning; and by the time the bill came to the Committee on Rules, the embargo-lifting amendment that was approved by the majority of the committee had been exposed to points of order which meant it was essentially dead on arrival.”