Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2005
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005
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Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise in support of this amendment and the second-degree amendment thereto. I thank my friend from Montana, Senator Baucus, as well as Senator Craig from Idaho. All three worked very hard to come to a compromise on this very sensitive issue.
What we are doing is basically restoring the normal trade discourse between our two countries to what it was before this change in a regulation that occurred about 2 months ago. We think the regulation does not state what Congress intended with the act that was passed 4 years ago.
Mr. President, 4 years ago, we did pass the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act which allows sales of food and medicine only to Cuba for the first time in nearly four decades. The act did not signal an end to the embargo, exactly as Senator Baucus said, or efforts to do so but merely exempted food and medicine from unilateral sanctions that harm populations.
U.S. exporters require payment before turning over title and control of the goods. That is a standard operating procedure in the shipping business. The exporters routinely ship U.S. goods to Cuba where they remain under the custody of the seller until such time as the seller certifies full payment. Only then are goods released to Cuba. At no time is credit extended in any form to Cuba. I cannot overemphasize that because that is exactly what the act requires.
This standard method of doing business has been in practice since sales to Cuba began. This amendment will overturn OFAC's new definition of ``cash in advance.'' The legislation allows exporters to resume normal trading and does not include any extraneous provisions that are unrelated to the immediate problem.
I again thank my colleagues for working on this issue and coming to a good resolution to return to the way trading was done prior to the arbitrary change in the regulation by OFAC. I thank Senator Cochran for his cooperation in letting us get this to the Senate floor.
I yield the floor.
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