Opposing Rapprochement with Cuba

Floor Speech

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Mr. BYRNE. I thank the gentlewoman, both for your time and for your
leadership on this very important issue.

As she said, I represent Mobile, Alabama. If you go and look at a
map, it is a straight shot north from Havana to Mobile. For over three
centuries, Mobile has been a major port for the export of goods and
import of goods back and forth between Cuba and the United States. It
is in the economic best interest of the people in my district for us to
get to the point where we have normalized relations and trade with
Cuba.

I should be ardently in favor of this deal that the President is
pursuing, but I am not. This is not the time, these are not the
circumstances, and--to put it simply--this is not the way to do this.

Let me address the way for a moment. It has been alluded to
previously that we have done deals with China and with Vietnam. In both
cases, the Presidents involved worked with Congress. That is critically
important to whatever success they have had in both of those deals.

In this circumstance, the President has refused to work with
Congress. You can't reach the sort of agreement that he is looking for
without Congress. You can't have an embassy unless we are willing to
pay for it. You can't have an ambassador unless the Senate approves the
ambassador.

He is pursuing what, in essence, is an errand that cannot result in
success that he is looking for, but he is pursuing it anyway without us
because this is just another example of these efforts to make these
unilateral, executive-type decisions, leaving Congress to decide to try
to keep itself relevant as he becomes a lameduck President. That is no
way to do this.

Let me address the circumstances. I can't say it any better than the
prior speakers have said it. This is a brutally oppressive regime that
cannot change, and until they change, until they put in motion the
things that we are talking about for change, I don't see how a country
like the United States can seriously engage in negotiations with them.

Most importantly, for me, from my perspective, I serve on the House
Armed Services Committee--I don't think I have to tell everybody here
the history of this country--this country with this regime in charge
allowed the then-Soviet Union to put nuclear missiles aimed at the
United States on their soil. They have never apologized for that; they
have never renounced that.

As we heard earlier, just a year ago, they were caught redhanded in
an arms deal with the North Koreans, who are presently enemies of the
United States. What sort of assurance do we have as part of this deal
that Cuba is not going to be a staging ground for military activity,
terrorist activity, against the people and the security of the United
States of America? Nothing, nothing; yet we engaged in this deal, a
very bad deal from my perspective--and I don't want to take anything
away from the American citizen who we were able to bring back home--but
look who we traded in return for that.

It reminds me of the Bergdahl deal we had last year that was so very
controversial. This administration doesn't know how to make a good
deal. They know how to give everything away and get very little back.

I want to normalize relationships with Cuba. I want us to open up
that trade again because it is going to benefit my district.

I am willing to do anything I can to help make that happen, but this
country should never give in to people like the Castro brothers until
there is a change in that regime, until there is a change in the
Government of Cuba, until they renounce their activities that have been
against the security of the United States, until we know that we have a
good faith trading partner and a good faith partner, period, in this
hemisphere.

I look forward to the day when I can stand at the Port of Mobile and
welcome goods coming in from Cuba and goods going out from Mobile to
Cuba as part of a deal that is made in the right way, under the right
circumstances, for the right reason. I hope and pray that that day
comes, but that day is not today.

I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership. I look forward to
continuing to follow that leadership in the days to come.

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