Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I rise in support of the Lee- Rangel-Tubbs Jones Amendment to H.R. 5025--Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act for…”

“I rise in support of the Lee- Rangel-Tubbs Jones Amendment to H.R. 5025--Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2005. The Lee-Rangel-Tubbs Jones Amendment prohibits the use of funds to enforce new regulations that affect students who study abroad or seek other educational opportunities in Cuba. America students have become victims of politics, which should not be the intent of U.S. foreign policy. The Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC) purpose is to track terrorist activities, not punish Americans interested in educational exchanges to Cuba. Members of Congress, especially Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Progressive Caucus, have written and called President Bush and Secretary Powell about the students at the Latin American Medical School (ELAM) and the cuts in general education licenses. All people-to-people educational travel was eliminated in 2003, which ended thousands of trips by U.S. citizens to Cuba for broader educational purposes each year. Mr. Speaker, these facts make the Lee- Rangel-Tubbs Jones Amendment necessary. The number of U.S. university-level students receiving credit for study abroad in 2001/02 increased 4.4 percent from the previous year, reaching a record total of 160,920, according to Open Doors 2003, the annual report on international educational published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with funding from the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.…”