Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 104th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.

Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

H 4549

House of Representatives

Vol. 141 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1995 No. 76

The House met at 12:30 p.m. and was

called to order by the Speaker pro tempore [Mr. DICKEY

f].

DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO

TEMPORE

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the Speaker:

WASHINGTON, DC,

May 8, 1995.

I hereby designate the Honorable JAY DICKEY to act as Speaker pro tempore on this

day.

NEWT GINGRICH,

The SPEAKER pro tempore. PursuSpeaker of the House of Representatives.

MORNING BUSINESS

fant to the order of the House of January 4, 1995, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by

the majority and minority leaders for

morning hour debates. The Chair will

alternate recognition between the parties, with each party limited to not to

exceed 30 minutes, and each Member

except the majority and minority leader limited to not to exceed 5 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman

from Florida [Mr. G

fOSS] for 5 minutes.

CLEARING OUT GUANTANAMO

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I have said it

before and I will say it again: The problem in Cuba is Fidel Castro and until

Castro is gone the United States cannot and should not normalize relations

with the closest of our Caribbean

neighbors. Indeed, we should tighten

the embargo, not relax it. Last week,

many of my colleagues were surprised

to learn that I consider the administration’s new Cuban immigration policy a

positive step in the right direction.

As a Representative from Florida

who does not support normalizing relations with Castro’s Cuba, I believe that

we must take steps to regularize Cuban

immigration, to bring order to what

has been a chaotic situation for far too

long. Last year, the President and his

foreign policy team created a problem—this year we are trying to deal

with the mess left over from some sloppy efforts at a Caribbean policy.

Now there are no good choices, only

necessary choices. Why? Because sitting in Guantanamo are more than

21,000 Cuban refugees and several hundred Haitians. Even after the current

paroling process is completed, the

White House expects there will still be

more than 15,000 refugees, mostly

young men, left in primitive, stressful,

living conditions. Add to that an infinite boredom, a hopeless future, and a

long hot summer and you have ignition

for launching a disaster.

My last trip to Guantanamo was in

March with Senator BOB GRAHAM. We

came back deeply concerned about the

situation, about the cost of running

the camp, and about the clear security

risk for our troops in Guantanamo if

something was not done soon. The administration’s new approach should at

least diffuse this potentially explosive

situation. Those 15,000 young men, who

have fled from Castro’s Cuba now have

a realistic hope they will not waste

away in a Guantanamo containment

camp. Under the agreement, the administration plans to use 15,000 of the

existing 60,000 Cuban visa slots for the

next 3 years for an orderly exodus of

the refugees from Guantanamo—a

camp that American taxpayers are

paying $1 million a day to run. In addition, the agreement seeks to head off

future inundations of refugees by providing a safer, fully organized Cuban

Immigration Program for those yet to

come from Castro’s Cuba. The continuing visa allowances will enable significant numbers of Cubans to take refuge

in our country through orderly channels and without risking their lives on

the high seas. Obviously, good screening processes will be necessary by the

Coast Guard to ensure no political refugees picked up on the high seas will

be repatriated in hot pursuit or lifethreatening situations. This will require constant and effective human

rights monitoring.

Handled properly, the administration’s new approach could disarm one

of Castro’s most effective gambits—the

deliberate victimization of his people

by releasing them as waves of refugees

to pressure the United States on foreign policy matters. If this agreement

works, it should have the net effect of

drastically reducing the danger of another Mariel overwhelming Florida’s

shores and resources. It should also

have the added bonus of allowing the

Federal Government—rather than the

State of Florida—to cope with the impacts of Cuban migration. That means

that all Americans, not just Floridians,

will provide locations and will share

the financial cost of resettling refugees

in an orderly, organized way.

Of course, there remain plenty of issues to be dealt with. Impacted States

will have to work with the Federal

Government to ensure that costs are

reimbursed. And the Clinton administration has to perform the difficult

task of providing monitoring for those

repatriated to Castro’s Cuba—the new

Clinton policy will all fall apart quickly and completely if we find we are in

any way aiding Castro’s regime to commit human rights violations on political opponents or on those just simply

seeking more freedom.

Finally, it demands emphasis that we

have an obligation to the Cuban people

as well as ourselves not to let up the

pressure on the brutal, oppressive, regime of Fidel Castro, even while we

work on ways to put more safety and

order in the way we accommodate

present and future refugees. That