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WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today offered an amendment during an Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY 2006 Treasury/Transportation Appropriations bill that would facilitate U.S. agricultural trade to Cuba. By prohibiting the government from spending money to enforce new key restrictions on agriculture trade with Cuba, the measure would neutralize onerous
“payment-in-advance” rules implemented by the executive branch in 2005.
The amendment was accepted by unanimous consent.
“Missouri producers shipped millions of dollars in agriculture to Cuba every year before the payment-in-advance requirement was revised. The rule now states that Cuba must pay for food shipments from American exporters before the ship can even leave the U.S. port,” Emerson explained. “This policy is less than neighborly; it is nonsense. We have to return to the arrangement agreed upon by Congress under which food products can be released to Cuba once the payment is in the bank.”
“Cuba is a major market for Missouri rice farmers. Because of the payment-in-advance rule, U.S. exports to Cuba are already down by more than 26 percent this year, and rice exports are down by 52 percent. To make matters worse, we are constraining our ability to export goods at the exact same time we are setting record trade deficits. We are not punishing Fidel Castro with this policy – we are punishing ourselves, especially our farmers.”
Cuba has purchased $1.3 billion in U.S. agricultural products since 2001, and the island nation bought $400 million of products from the U.S. in 2004 when it became the 25th most lucrative export market for American agriculture.
“Trade is democracy’s best ambassador. We trade with China, with Iran and with the Sudan, but then we take a hard line on trade with Cuba. It doesn’t make any sense. Our farmers work hard to provide the best, safest, most reliable food supplies in the world. They deserve open access to an important market just 90 miles off the coast of Florida,” Emerson said. |
