Bob Menendez

I think about the fortress balance sheet you talk about, and I would like to remind you that fortress balance sheet has a moat that was dug by taxpayers to the tune of $25 billion in bailout money and more than $450 billion in loans from…

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 7:12 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 10 a.m. ____________________

We expect to yield back time and confirm the Hurwitz nomination during Tuesday's session. We are also working on an agreement for amendments to the farm bill. ____________________

Now, it seems to me that no matter how wealthy or powerful the company, they should pay their fair share.

It is hard to believe $1 trillion in profit is not enough for a company to pursue their own interests.

Why should the American taxpayer be in the business of subsidizing foreign oil exploration?

What kind of a message are we sending when you make a sound decision highlighting the lack of transparency only to undercut your stance by approving $1.4 billion in loans to a nontransparent government?

It is a reality inside of Cuba that one can face repression, torture, or imprisonment simply for speaking one's mind or simply for coming together in common cause to organize.

So, to summarize, if you are a dissident and what you are doing is sending information about what is happening inside of Cuba to the rest of the world, you are oppressed, but you are not necessarily arrested.

So does crossing the redline then mean gaining public space, gaining recognition for your peaceful activities inside of Cuba? That is what the regime does not permit? That is what gets you arrested?

The committee's singular focus, and we will certainly ask the United States Government through its Interests Section in Cuba to ensure that these individuals... do not face a reprisal as a result of their testimony here today.

I think that is one of the single greatest contributions that this country could make to the advancement of freedom and democracy on the island.

Well, it is hard to understand how you have this dramatic increase.

Let the record reflect that what he said was that those policies, the policies that he just described before, of remittances, of travel, of acceptance only creates an impunity for the regime and allows them to continue their oppressive…

Radio Marti was very important to free information inside of Cuba.

I would love to see us possibly fund such an initiative.

And those successes ultimately can be justified in the context of record numbers of imprisonments?

Do you dispute that the largest increase in reserves to the Castro regime is a combination of remittances and travel money that is going into Cuba?

Radio Marti as an indispensable tool in the flow of information inside for the Cuban people.

One of the reasons that the Castro regime arrested Alan Gross was to try to chill the very essence of what our democracy programs are inside of Cuba.

We have never permitted our worldwide democracy or surrogate broadcasting programs to be impinged upon by either jamming or policies of a regime.

The United States denies visas to all types of people all across the world. It has broad jurisdiction in doing so. You exercised your discretion in giving a visa to these individuals who are part of a repressive system inside of Cuba…

I find it very difficult to understand some of the administration's views as it relates to strengthening civil society inside of Cuba.

There is going to be a free Cuba soon. There is going to be.

And they did not, which is par for the course. It is a one-way street.