Charles Rangel: “I hate to say this is a political piece of legislation for fear of offending my friends, so please look into the Federal…”

“I hate to say this is a political piece of legislation for fear of offending my friends, so please look into the Federal Election Commission, and ignore all of these campaign contributions that are pouring in here to Members that have taken the position that now is the time to get the murderer through locking up the people in Cuba. For those people that are offended because someone suggests that it might be political, let me make it clear. The fact that the only Democratic opponent I had in a primary in the last 25 years, that 85 percent of his campaign funds came out of Miami, hey, that is not political, and I challenge people who would even think that. But let us get down to the merits. We are outraged at murder. The Speaker is gone; he was here. What do we do about it? Hold the people of Cuba American hostage and tell them that they have to fly over Cuba and put pamphlets down there in order to get Americans' attention? Cut off food, cut off trade, cut off relationships with the people in Cuba because we do not like the bum that is running it? Are we in love with whoever runs China? As my colleagues know, what are we going to do there; put an embargo on China, on North Vietnam or North Korea? No. There are no votes in the United States for those people. My colleagues know it and I know it. They sure got my President's attention; let us see what we can do now with these Republican candidates.…”