Senate Proceeding on Oct 5th, 2009 :: 1:40:55 to 1:57:55
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1:40:55 to 1:57:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Byron Dorgan

1:41:10 to 1:41:31( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: trip to cuba is off." mr. dorgan: the american people can travel to communist china, to communist vietnam b american people are considered taking a criminal act if they travel to cuba. there are some exceptions and that to travel offered by the -- the u.s. treasury department for certain kinds of educational things and cultural things,

1:41:32 to 1:41:53( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the new york philharmonic orchestra was going to cuba. this is last friday, october 1, the new york philharmonic had to call off its trip to cuba. now, the reason i wanted to mention this is this is almost unbelievable what we're still doing with respect to tvel policy with cuba.

1:41:54 to 1:42:15( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: i and senator enzi have a pie of legislation that just removes all travel restrictions with respect to travel to cuba. we have over 30 united states senators that are cosponsors of that legislation, but we still are going through this -- while we're waiting legislation, we're going through nonsense of having the federal government and the treasury departmentell us who can and

1:42:16 to 1:42:36( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: who can't travel, restricting the liberty and the freedom of the american people. it's outrageous, in my judgment. the reason this caugh last friday is t -- the

1:42:37 to 1:42:58( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: to havana, cuba, is york philharmonic would play in havana this month, october, 2009. now, this is not particularly unusual. these kinds of trips happen all of the time in 19 war, communist russia, the new

1:42:59 to 1:43:19( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: york philharmonic played in1959 in moscow. a reasonably good thing, in my judgment, to be able to extend our culture friendship through music. one of the reasons i was especially interestedn this is the new york philharmonic

1:43:20 to 1:43:40( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: visited north korea last year. and i asked the chairman -- the director and the chairman of the philharmonic orchestra and the foundation that supports it to come and speak to our caucus, and they described to us their performances in north korea. one of the extended areas of

1:43:41 to 1:44:01( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: applause lasted 30 full minutes. what a great way to exchange with another country, to extend cultur enlightenment and to share with other countries. again, the new york philharmonic orchestra played

1:44:02 to 1:44:22( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: north korea the new york philharmonic is going to month. yes, it's a communist country. so, too, is north korea. so is china. so is russia. but the new york philharmonic orchestra has no difficulty being able to play music in

1:44:23 to 1:44:43( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: those countries because there's no travel respect to those countries. now, let the absurdity of all of this. here is the office of foreign assets control little agency in the treasury department that is in charge of this will allow under certain

1:44:44 to 1:45:04( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: conditions, allow you to travel to cuba. and the license that they decided to allow philharmonic to go to cuba and play their allowing the benefactors of the philharmonic to travel with them and the new york philharmonic decided that was unacceptable. and, frankly, i understand w

1:45:05 to 1:45:26( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it's unacceptable for them. it doesn't make any sense to m "unless otherwise authorized, any person subject to u.s. jurisdiction who engages in any travel-related transaction in cuba violates the that's unbelievable to me. that's been around for i think 40 years, 50 years. let me give you some examples of

1:45:27 to 1:45:47( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: some people who have traveled to cuba who ar our federal government has chased and harassed. and by t agency called ofac somewhat in the bowels of the u.s. treasury department, ofac, office of foreign assets control, they're supposed to be tracking terrorist money, protecting us from terrorists.

1:45:48 to 1:46:09( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: they're busy, they've been busy, and by the way, in the previous administration, up to a quarter of their time was spent trying to track americans who were under suspicion of taking a vacation in cuba. pretty absurd, to seems to me. this is joan sloat. joan slote was a senior citizen and bicyc $7,630. do you know why?

1:46:10 to 1:46:30( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: because she joined a canadian bicycle group that took a bicycling tour of cuba. and as a result of that, her government -- this is under the previous administration -- tracked her attach her social secity checks and fined her $7,360

1:46:31 to 1:46:54( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: $7 cuba. here's a picture of a womb whom i have met named joan scott. joan scott's transgression? well, she's a very religious woman, devout christian. she went to free bibles on the streets of cuba. and her government tried to track her down and fine her

1:46:55 to 1:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: $10,000 for handing out free bibles on the streets of cuba because she violated the travel ban. avel ban. that means restricting the liberty of the american people. we don't do that for other countries. we don't do it for communist china, communist russia, communist vietnam. just for cuba.

1:47:18 to 1:47:38( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: this is sergeant carlos lazo. and, ain, a number of years ago, carlos lazo went and fought america's uniform. he's a cuban-american. he was in iraq as a fighting soldier for this country, won the bronze star for gallantry, and he had two children in cuba,

1:47:39 to 1:47:59( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: one of whom was sick, and his government that he fought for and won the bronze star for told him he was not able to travel to cuba to see his own sick and it describes how unbelievably let me describe what the policy is traveling to other countries.

1:48:00 to 1:48:21( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: of "all transactions ordinarily incident to travel to or from iran want to go to iran? no problem. that's not you're want to north korea? not a problem.

1:48:22 to 1:48:42( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: "u.s. passports are valid travel in north korea and individuals do not need u.s. government permission to travel here are the ten presidents we've had since we decided to punish the american people with a travel ban to cuba. ten presidents.

1:48:43 to 1:49:03( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: you talk about failure. it's another thing to insist that failure's a good thing for 50 years this government of cuba has lasted through ten presidents, and wha to, over all of these years, bac people.

1:49:04 to 1:49:25( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: now, you can go in certain official capacities. you can go in certain educational capacities or cultural capacities, provided you get a license. i've been to cuba, been to havana, cuba. i have visited with government officials. dissidents in cuba. i mean, i've traveled to cuba. and many other educational groups, many of my colleagues here in congress have no doubt -- have undoubtedly traveled to cuba.

1:49:26 to 1:49:46( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: but we have a licensing requirement with respect to travel to cuba. we also have this embargo for all of one who some years ago lifted th able to sell food and medicine into cuba. i think it's fundamentally immoral to use food as a weapon.

1:49:47 to 1:50:09( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and we had selling feud into cuba. the europeans were selling into cuba. the canadians were selling into cuba. the americans -- american farmers were told you can't sell food into cuba. as a result of my amendment, an amendment i offered with then-senator ashcroft, that amendment opened just a bit the sale of food into cuba and allowed medicine to go into cuba as well. but that's the only thing that

1:50:10 to 1:50:30( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: has happened in all of there's years. senator enzi and i have offered a bipartisan piece of legislation that would allow travel, the american people the freedom to travel in cuba. now, my colleagues in this chamber talk a lot about freedom. what about the freedom of the american people to travel? why is it we've decided to punish someone else by restricting america's freedoms?

1:50:31 to 1:50:51( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and i've come back to the basic proposition the greatusic groups in the the new york philharmonic, has played in north korea, has played in russia, has played in vietnam, is told here are the circumstances in which you can

1:50:52 to 1:51:12( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: play in cuba. and, by the way, they are onerous and circumstances and conditions that were unacceptable to the new york philharmonic and i understand why. now, i'm writing to the office of foreign assets control and think straight just a bit. it makes no sense at all

1:51:13 to 1:51:34( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: decide that is kind of exchange is unworthy. does anybody really think that having the new york philharmonic play beautiful music in the city of havana, in the country of cuba is in any way going to threaten anybody? wouldn't it perhaps do at least what it did for those who were able to experience that wonderful music in north korea?

1:51:35 to 1:51:55( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and i saw the -- the photograp photographs, i saw the video, i believe "60 minutes" did a piece on it and showed unbelievably they were responded to by the north korean people who heard them and listened to the new york philharmonic. wouldn respect to cuba? and why on earth should our

1:51:56 to 1:52:17( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: government be interpr travel restriction in the -- in the -- in the way that it is designed to try to restrict opportunities? these years tries to find ways to tighten, find ways to create opportunity to restrict travel.

1:52:18 to 1:52:39( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it makes no sense to me at i just -- when weekend, i thought, what on earth could they be thinkin where is the deep reservoir of common sense that you should expect from people who are confronted with this issue? when confronted with the issue of new york philharmonic orchestra to represent our country in

1:52:40 to 1:53:00( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: doing concerts in havana, why should ofac be trying to find restrictive for the philharmonic and its benefactors to travel to cuba and do what they intended to do? now, mr. president, i -- i have just

1:53:01 to 1:53:25( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: opportunity other countries has a long history. i showed a picture of the new york philharmonic, conducted by leonard bernstein, performing in the great conservatory. in fact, let me show that again, because i think it raises the

1:53:26 to 1:53:46( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: question about common sense. with all the tenons that occurred with moscow and the soviet union at that point, and -- and we send our new york philharmonic orchestra in exchange, leonard conducts and they, too, were greeted with long, sustain applause because people were so

1:53:47 to 1:54:07( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: appreciative of them being in moscow. if -- if that has been the?? case -- circumstance -- and last year especially it was with respect to the appearance in north korea, if that's the case, on earth would our government do anything other the new york philharmonic to do

1:54:08 to 1:54:28( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the instead of discourage, instead of find ways to down so the new york philharmonic and benefactors have decided they simply can't go under those conditions? iean, common sense doesn't just apply on all of the really big, controversial issues. it ought to apply on these issues as well.

1:54:29 to 1:54:49( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the lib the american people to travel. there ought not be travel restrictions to cuba at all. they ought to be gone, and we ought to pass the dorgan-enzi bill that just travel restrictions wi to cuba. now, we have not yet to get it to the floor. when we do, i guarantee -- well, i can't guarantee i guess until

1:54:50 to 1:55:11( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: we have the vote -- but let me guarantee after the vote, there are sufficient votes on the floor of the united states senate american people the freedom they should have had in the last 50 to travel. in this case, that freedom has been taken from them and it's outrageous. i mentioned when i became involved in this

1:55:12 to 1:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: issue of what our country, i -- i was furious to find an elderly woman bicycle in cuba and then fined $7,300 by her government. and, by the way, when she came back, her son and so she wasn' she was attending to her son who

1:55:33 to 1:55:53( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: had brain cancer down in california and she didn't get the mailing to her house and so th social security away. why? because she was suspected of vacationing in cuba. riding a bicycle with a canadian bicycl all of this i think is nuts. and i just hope at some point the new york phil philharmonic will be given the general license, along with them and

1:55:54 to 1:56:15( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: their benefactors, to go do the concert in hav represent this country in havana, cuba. good for them. and i hope in thethe office of foreign asset control will take another look at this and make a new decision. they have the right to make a better decision. in my judgment, they didn't make the right decision here. i hope they'll overturn that decision. i've written them a letter today asking them to do that.

1:56:16 to 1:56:37( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: let's use a little common sense and following that, my hope is that senator enzi and i will get our legislation on the floor of the united states remove the that now impede the freedoms of the american -- the freedom of the american people to travel to cuba. mr. president, country of cuba has been a thorn

1:56:38 to 1:56:59( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: in our side for a long time. i understand that. but -- but attempting to punish the leaders of cuba the american people makes no sense at all, and that's exactly what has happe 1950's and early so, mr. president,y hope is that someday, despite the news last friday that the new york philharmonic has canceled this

1:57:00 to 1:57:22( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: trip, my hope is that someday very soon we'll have a policy that doesn't have anybody canceling trips because they di travel. my hope is that anybody can travel anywhere, the best of this country and certainly the new philharmonic is a wonderful cultural exchange with not just russia and -- excuse me, the

1:57:23 to 1:57:44( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: soviet union and north korea and vietnam -- and they've done them all, all communist countries -- but also with cuba. and i happy to will happen soon. mr. president, i yield the floor, and order that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.