José E. Serrano: “Mr. Chairman, I am somewhat surprised at some of the supporters of this amendment and the way that they are supporting…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am somewhat surprised at some of the supporters of this amendment and the way that they are supporting the amendment, as I will. They actually sound like this is on the level. They actually debate this like this is for real. Let me refresh Members' memories, those who support my position in favor of the Flake amendment on how this happened. A group of Florida legislators wrote the White House and said, if you do not tighten up on Cuba, you are going to lose votes in Florida. That is what happened. That is the truth. So I am surprised that some of my colleagues would actually debate this as if this was real and on the level. This is not on the level. If you arrived from the moon tomorrow and did not know this was an election year and Florida was in play, how would you have a hint that it was an election year and Florida was in play? Tighten up on Cuba to make Florida not in play, but fall into one column. That is why we bring up Elian Gonzalez, who is playing soccer in Cuba minding his own business. That is why we have decided that Castro stands at the gate and every single dollar and every single tampon and every single Kleenex that goes in Cuba he grabs for himself, and that is why he is the richest guy in the hemisphere, except there is no sign that he is going anywhere and he is nearing 80, so I do not know when he is going to spend all of this money he accumulated.”