Byron Dorgan: “this policy is wrong. This policy injures American farmers. This policy continues an embargo. We know embargoes hurt us.…”

“this policy is wrong. This policy injures American farmers. This policy continues an embargo. We know embargoes hurt us. They hurt our farmers. Those kinds of activities hurt poor, sick and hungry people in countries like Cuba. They do not hurt Fidel Castro. They hurt our farmers. And they hurt the poor, sick, and hungry people abroad. When someone wants to come to this country to buy American grain, eggs, dried beans, and other products our farmers produce, the State Department has no right, in my judgment, to revoke those visas for political purposes. That is what I think has happened in this regard. It is the policy of this administration not to encourage agricultural sales to Cuba. I say to those in this administration who have said that and who believe that: You have a responsibility to stop this nonsense. You are hurting American family farmers. And it is an abrogation of the policies we have already developed here in the Congress. I am going to send a letter today to the State Department saying I have invited the head of Alimport into this country. I have invited them to North Dakota. I want them to come here and buy American farm products. I think the State Department has a responsibility to provide visas for those who would come from Alimport to make those purchases of grain.”