Eliot Engel: “This is the first speech I am making on the House floor since the passing of my dear mother, and I want to thank my…”

“This is the first speech I am making on the House floor since the passing of my dear mother, and I want to thank my colleagues for their support and for their strength and caring for me and my family. Mr. Speaker, this resolution welcomes a delegation of presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers from 14 Caribbean nations to Washington, D.C., for the Conference on the Caribbean, which will be held next week. I am the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and I can tell you that the relationship that the United States has with the Caribbean nations is of paramount importance. In fact, in many of the trips that we have gone on, people have said to us they want the United States to be involved. They have a sense, many times, that we have looked elsewhere, and they don't understand why.”