Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo a political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba. Mr. Ramon Castillo was a respected professor of mechanical theory at Alvaro Barriel Cruz Polytechnic. As a professor, he was committed to his students and to helping them advance in their studies. After becoming more and more aware of the propaganda mandated by the dictatorship, he was unable to continue with the charade of manipulating young students with the lies and treachery of a tyrannical regime. Because of his strong belief and commitment to truth and democracy for the Cuban people, Mr. Ramon Castillo eventually became the director of the Independent Culture and Democracy Institute. As part of his efforts to bring international attention to the crimes committed against the people of Cuba, he began to work as an independent journalist to chronicle the reality of deprivation and misery that characterizes life under the totalitarian regime. Mr. Ramon Castillo was repeatedly subjected to persecution and harassment by the dictatorship from the beginning of his involvement in the movement to make possible a free and democratic Cuba. On March 19, 2003, Mr. Ramon Castillo was arrested as part of the dictatorship's monstrous crackdown of that year on peaceful pro-democracy activists. In a sham trial, he was unjustly ``sentenced'' to 20 years in the tyrant's sub-human dungeons. Confined in the infernal squalor of Boniato prison in eastern Cuba, Mr. Ramon Castillo currently suffers from numerous medical afflictions, afflictions only worsened by the grotesquely inhuman quarters in which he is forced to survive. In November 2005, Mr. Ramon Castillo was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. His family pleaded to prison officials that he be conditionally released to attend to his rapidly deteriorating health. Their pleas went unanswered and in February 2007 prison personnel explained that he would be scheduled to undergo a laparoscopic biopsy of his liver; a procedure that Mr. Ramon Castillo had already endured in 2005 and that the prison thugs knew he would be forced to refuse because he is too weak to undergo the procedure because of malnutrition, lack of medical attention, and the seriousness of his diabetes and other illnesses. It is unconscionable for any man to be confined in the grotesquely inhuman Castro dungeons for his belief in democracy. Mr. Ramon Castillo is one of the many heroes of the Cuban pro-democracy movement who are chained in the dungeons of the dictatorship for their beliefs. Mr. Ramon Castillo represents the best of the Cuban nation, a nation oppressed but not destroyed, bound and gagged but not resigned to live in tyranny. Madam Speaker, it is intolerable that Mr. Ramon Castillo is languishing in the totalitarian gulag 90 miles from our shore simply because he believes in freedom and democracy. He is a symbol of freedom and democracy who will always be remembered when freedom reigns again in Cuba. My colleagues, we must demand the immediate release of Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, and every prisoner of conscience suffering in totalitarian Cuba.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let's see what the dissidents in Cuba, in a letter and knowing full well the risks they take by sending a letter to Members of Congress about this issue today, what they say about the aid that this program has sent to Cuba and is sending: ``We can affirm that the aid that for many years has flowed to the pro-democracy movement takes into account the vast range of needs, from medicine to keep a political prisoner or dissident from dying, to food, water filters, medical equipment, clothing, shoes, coats, toys for the children of political prisoners who suffer doubly the loss of a loved one and social repression on the streets and in school, essential vitamins, office supplies, the tools of democracy, computers printers, phones, fax machines, among others that account for the long list of articles and materials that have been made possible in Cuba.'' And they thank the American people in the same way in which the people of Poland and the people of Eastern and Central Europe will be eternally grateful to the American people, including the Congress of the United States, for the support in their difficult days. The dissidents and the pro-democracy movement in Cuba thank the American people for this aid. And what President Bush has requested for the rest of the hemisphere is either being funded or exceeded, and yet for the only totalitarian police state in the hemisphere, the committee has funded it at 19 percent. That is not justifiable, Mr. Chairman. That is why we are asking for the funding fully offset to be at the requested level by the administration. Please support this amendment.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Wolf has said it all. This is an amendment not only of conscience, this is an amendment to help people who are risking their lives. Thousands who are in prison, hundreds recognized as prisoners of conscience by international organizations such as Amnesty International. They are risking their lives and their families' lives to peacefully advocate for freedom and democracy as those heroes mentioned by Mr. Wolf advocated and risked their lives in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1980s, and they finally achieved freedom. And have no doubt that the dissidents in the pro-democracy movement in Cuba will be fundamental in the transition. They will be leaders in the future tomorrow, perhaps received in this Congress as the sovereign and elected leader of the Republic of Cuba, perhaps one of those political prisoners, I have no doubt, or those opposition leaders. So it is time to help them and, as Mr. Wolf said, send a message of solidarity and not retreat at this critical time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would simply remind my colleagues what if the policies advocated by those who are against this program had succeeded during the 1980s in Poland and Eastern Europe? Just ask yourself that question and remember when we did what we are doing here in the 1980s, what happened in Eastern Europe. Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield 1 minute to a distinguished leader and human rights activist from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the Congressman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, my amendment, coauthored by my good friend, Mr. Albio Sires of New Jersey, restores funds for Cuba democracy assistance to the administration's requested level of $45 million by offsetting $36 million from the Department of State General Administration Budget. Unfortunately, as this chart so well demonstrates, the committee, while generally meeting or far exceeding the administration's requests for the rest of Latin America, something that I support, the bill funds Cuba democracy programs at approximately 20 percent of the President's request of $45 million; 20 percent for assistance for those brave men and women who risk their lives and their families' safety, unarmed, in a hard-line totalitarian police state to peacefully press for democracy in Cuba; human rights activists, independent journalists, independent librarians, independent physicians. This aid goes to them and to their families, to the families of political prisoners. As explained, Mr. Chairman, in the letter from nine members of the pro-democracy movement to the six Cuban American Members of Congress, they attest and affirm that the assistance is key, and that it reaches them and that it has made and is making a great difference for the pro- democracy movement at this time. Now, Mr. Chairman, the opponents of this effort asked for a GAO report on these programs, and I thank them for it. First, the GAO report, after 18 months of thorough investigation, confirmed that the program is working. And I quote from the GAO report. ``Dissidents we interviewed in Cuba said that they appreciated the range and types of U.S. democracy assistance; that this assistance was useful in their work, and that it demonstrates the U.S. Government's commitment to democracy in Cuba.'' Mr. Chairman, the GAO report detailed many successes, despite emphasizing the great challenges posed by the totalitarian police state for aid distribution. It talked about the GAO report, 385,000 pounds of medicines, food and clothing have been delivered to the pro-democracy movement and their families; more than 23,000 shortwave radios, millions of books, newsletters and other informational material. U.S. assistance reported independent journalists and including the publication of approximately 23,000 reports by those independent journalists. Mr. Chairman, I would call attention to the fact that the GAO report, while making absolutely no recommendation for any cut whatsoever in this program, does point out and make clear the case that it is an important and effective program; and after the GAO report, it has been significantly improved. I call the attention of all of my colleagues to the reply to the GAO report by the administrating agency, the USAID, where it delineates that all the GAO report's recommendations have been implemented. All of the recommendations have been implemented. That has made an effective and important program even more effective and important. Mr. Chairman, let us not turn our backs on the Cuban internal opposition. They will play a key role in the inevitable democratic transition that is approaching, and we must do all we can so that they can survive the brutality of a totalitarian police state, of violence and terror that, fortunately, to a great extent because of the pro- democracy movement in Cuba, will soon be but a tragic and perverse historical memory. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, at this time I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished coauthor of the amendment, Mr. Sires.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the gentleman from Florida, my good friend, Mr. Hastings, for the time. I would also like to thank Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Wolf for their efforts on this undeniably important piece of legislation. This bill funds a number of U.S. Government programs and activities, including the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development, foreign, economic and military assistance, contributions to international organizations and international broadcasting programs. Even though aspects of this bill have clearly bipartisan support, there are significant areas of concern with some of the priorities that the majority has set forth in this legislation. Just over a year ago, the people of Colombia reelected President Uribe to a second term with over 62 percent of the vote. President Uribe is the first President in over 100 years to be reelected by the Colombian people. His reelection and his extraordinarily high current approval ratings are a testament to his efforts to curb terrorism, corruption and narcotrafficking in Colombia. For years, designated terrorist organizations in Colombia have hampered efforts by the people of that great country to live in a peaceful democracy. Proactive action must continue to be taken to ensure that armed terrorists are not allowed to create social unrest through violence. With the current landscape in the world today, foreign assistance, Mr. Speaker, is as strategically important to our national interest as it is morally just. I am concerned that the underlying legislation cuts funding for Plan Colombia $59 million below the President's request and $86.5 million below fiscal year 2007. Plan Colombia has achieved significant results. When it began, that country was facing a civil war that was tearing it apart. Now that the plan has had time to take effect, and with President Uribe's leadership, kidnappings have fallen by 75 percent and the gross domestic product of Colombia has increased to 7 percent annually. We must not take progress in the Andean region for granted, however. If the United States turns its back on the region, it will falter and create a scenario that will require greater U.S. investment and sacrifice at a time when obviously we have significant responsibilities worldwide, not to mention that we would be spurning a democratically elected ally that has bravely fought corruption and narcotrafficking. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank President Bush for his continued support for a democratic transition in Cuba. Pursuant to the recommendations of his Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, the President requested $45 million in economic support funds for Cuba pro- democracy activities. These funds would support efforts for a transition to democracy in the Western Hemisphere's only totalitarian dictatorship through support for dissidents, human rights activists, independent librarians and others who risk their lives each day for freedom in that enslaved island. Unfortunately, the bill brought forth by the majority is cutting the funds needed to support pro-democracy efforts in Cuba and funding less than 20 percent of the President's request. I would note that under the bill, the other countries in the Western Hemisphere will receive over 95 percent of the funds requested by the President, and I think that is good. Yet funds to support a democratic transition in the Western Hemisphere's only totalitarian dictatorship constitute approximately 19 percent of the President's request. Mr. Speaker, these acts include from staging a hunger strike; to demanded access to e-mail and the Internet and going to prison for it; to having the audacity of possessing books by Gandhi and Orwell and Martin Luther King in their homes and offering those books as an independent library to their neighbors, an act of great courage that is met by the dictatorship's goon squads with violence, confiscation of the books and often prison time; to the independent journalists who risk their lives and their families' safety by writing the truth about life under the totalitarian nightmare, and who need paper and typewriters and faxes and telephones to send their stories out; to the children of political prisoners who have received the only toys they have ever seen because of the solidarity of this United States program of assistance; to those from all walks of life who dare to join a human rights organization in a totalitarian police state; to the physicians who open their homes to their neighbors for the practice of medicine and dispense medicines, risking prison for breaking the rules of the totalitarian state, the only employer in the country, or the physicians who refuse to perform the forced abortions ordered by the state when there is any indication whatsoever of a problematic pregnancy, so the regime can keep its infant mortality statistics low. Mr. Speaker, that is how one of my heroes, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet began his heroic journey as a pro-democracy activist. He subsequently has become a great pro-democracy leader. I carry a card with his photograph with me at all times. He is currently in a dark and damp dungeon, sentenced to 25 years in the gulag for having the audacity of peacefully advocating for democracy and free elections in Cuba. Mr. Speaker, we cannot send aid to him in prison. The regime will not allow it. But we can help his family and his colleagues in the struggle for freedom. These are the acts of civic resistance that have grown exponentially in recent years, despite a tremendous increase in the dictatorship's brutal repression, and those are the people, the heroes that I have mentioned, that we help with this program, that we will seek to increase funding for through the President's requested level by an amendment that I will introduce with my friend and colleague Representative Albio Sires of New Jersey, and that I will ask all freedom-loving Members of this House to support. Last February, Mr. Speaker, the six Cuban American Members of this Congress, Bob Menendez, Mel Martinez, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Albio Sires, Mario Diaz-Balart and myself, received a letter from nine pro-democracy leaders in Cuba. They know the risks that they were and are taking by sending us that letter. They knew that it would be utilized publicly in forums such as today's. In that letter, that group of dissidents and pro-democracy leaders, representing an extraordinarily wide spectrum of ideology and opinion, some with whom I have had disagreements in the past, came together and told us of the importance of this aid that we will be debating in this bill. They stated in their letter, ``We can affirm that the aid that for years has flowed to the pro-democracy movement takes into account the vast range of needs, from medicine to keep a political prisoner or dissident from dying, to food, water filters, medical equipment, clothing, shoes, coats, toys for the children of political prisoners, who suffer doubly the loss of a loved one and social repression on the streets and in school, essential vitamins, office supplies, and the tools of democracy, computers, printers, phones, fax machines, among others, that account for a long list of articles and materials that have been made possible in Cuba.'' Today, with the amendment that I have filed along with Representative Sires, we reply to the letter sent in February by those pro-democracy leaders, and, as I stated, Mr. Speaker, we will ask all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the aid requested by those pro-democracy leaders in that letter, the assistance for the pro- democracy movement. Mr. Speaker, on other subjects in this important legislation, the bill cuts by approximately 40 percent the President's request for the Millennium Challenge account. The Millennium Challenge, which President Bush called a new compact for global development, provides assistance through a competitive selection process to developing nations that are pursuing political and economic reforms in three areas: ruling justly, investing in people, and fostering economic freedom. Contributions from that account are linked to greater responsibility from developing nations. The new responsibilities these nations accept in exchange for the funds ensure that the funds we provide do not go to waste and have the greatest possible impact on those who need the help the most. That account encourages transparency, and it is a good aspect of our foreign policy, and it is very important that it be increased as this legislation moves forward. Lastly, I would mention that this bill faces a veto threat by the President because of language which may undermine what is known as the Mexico City policy. The Mexico City policy currently in effect requires that foreign NGOs agree as a condition of receipt of Federal funds for family-planning activities that the organization will neither perform nor promote abortion as a method of family planning. The Mexico City policy applies only to family-planning programs and is designed to protect the integrity of U.S.-funded international family-planning programs by creating a bright line of separation between abortion and family planning. There is concern by the President and many Members in this Congress that U.S. taxpayer family-planning funds could possibly go to NGOs that promote or provide abortions under the language in the underlying legislation. I understand the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) will introduce an amendment to address this issue, and I urge Members to consider that very important amendment. The majority correctly currently brings this important legislation to the floor under an open rule. The House has traditionally considered appropriations bills under open rules in order to allow each Member an opportunity to offer germane amendments without having to preprint their amendments or receive approval from the Rules Committee. I hope that the majority will live up to their campaign promise of running a transparent House and will continue our tradition of open rules with the rest of the appropriations bills this year. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, again I thank my dear friend for yielding me the time initially. I would like to, with regard to the issue of the amendment that I made reference to previously, note that I will be bringing to the floor along with my friend and colleague, Representative Sires, to restore to the President's request by offsetting funds from the administration account billions of dollars of the State Department, approximately $30 million, to bring to the President's request level the assistance for Cuban democracy programs. Not today on the floor in the context of the rule but last night in the Rules Committee, a colleague who previously spoke made reference to a GAO report to impugn and to impeach the program of assistance to the Cuban pro-democracy movement and oppose efforts to restore the level to the President's request. I have in my office and I highly recommend to all colleagues precisely that GAO report. We would inform colleagues where to download it. It is a very important report, and there are a couple of things I would like to point out from the report that is used to impeach or attempt to impeach the program and impugn the program, criticize the program, of assistance to the dissidents in Cuba. The GAO report found that from 1996 to 2006, the Cuba program provided the following assistance: 385,000 pounds of medicine, food, and clothing to the pro-democracy movement. More than 23,000 shortwave radios. Millions of books, newsletters and other informational materials. U.S. assistance, the GAO found, supported journalism correspondence courses for more than 200 Cuban journalists. The publication of approximately 23,000 reports by independent journalists in Cuba. And with regard to the recommendations of the GAO report, as you know, Mr. Speaker, the GAO often when it reviews in-depth, as it does, a government program or agency, it often recommends cuts in that program, and the GAO makes no recommendation of a cut. It makes recommendations for the more efficient running of the Cuban democracy programs. And in response to the GAO report, and I have this letter in my office and it's available to any Member who would like to read it and I highly recommend it, the agency that administers these programs, the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, in a letter dated January 16 of this year, responding to the GAO report, informs specifically, with specificity, how all of the recommendations of the GAO report have been implemented. And so I highly recommend the reading of the GAO report and also the response by the administrating agency with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the GAO report, Mr. Speaker. It's important that we help those who risk their lives and the safety of their families day in and day out to achieve freedom, a democratic transition in our closest neighbor, 90 miles away, that at this time is a state sponsor of terrorism and an anti-American totalitarian regime. And what those heroes of the pro-democracy movement are risking their lives and their families' freedom for is a democratic transition to a reality with the rule of law, obviously a democratically elected government that will no longer be allied with state sponsors of terrorism, anti-American state sponsors of terrorism but that will, rather, be worried and working for the needs to better the lives of the long oppressed people within Cuba. Mr. Speaker, again I thank my good friend Mr. Hastings for yielding the time. I thank any of my colleagues who may have been listening to this debate for their attention. Once again I would plead that they join from both sides of the aisle to bring up to the President's request the assistance for the Cuba pro-democracy movement. With that, Mr. Speaker, and acknowledging the complexities and yet the importance of the underlying legislation brought to the floor today by this rule, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about Lazaro Joaquin Alonso Roman, a prisoner of conscience in totalitarian Cuba. Mr. Alonso Roman is a peaceful pro-democracy activist who desires freedom for the people of Cuba. His dream is that all Cubans be allowed to freely exercise their fundamental human rights. Unfortunately, the nightmare that is the totalitarian dictatorship specifically targets those courageous men and women who bravely risk their lives and the safety of their families to shed light on the realities of totalitarian Cuba. On July 13, 2005, Mr. Alonso Roman was shamefully arrested while participating in a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration in Havana honoring the victims of the ``13 of March'' tugboat massacre of 1994 in which 72 men, women and children were chased down and attacked by the regime's security thugs for attempting to flee the dictatorship in search of freedom. More than half of the unarmed refugees on the tugboat were systematically drowned at the direct order of the tyrant while they struggled to stay alive in the ocean waters. After serving 21 months of a two-year ``sentence'' for ``public disorder, rebellion and reckless endangerment'', Mr. Alonso Roman was released from the infernal dungeons on April 24, 2007. On May 19, less than a month later, Mr. Alonso Roman was thrown back in the dictatorship's hellish gulag for expressing concern over why the regime's gangster thugs were deliberately harassing him and demanding to see his identification papers. According to his wife, Juana Delma Ruiz, his mere questions were enough for the regime's thugs to brutally handcuff and shove her husband into a police car and drag him to Dragones Prison in Havana. Once in the irons of Dragones Mr. Alonso Roman was informed that he would be ``tried'' on trumped-up charges of ``resisting arrest and contempt'' which would lead to more undeserved misery and suffering of the confines of a totalitarian dungeon. Let me be clear, Mr. Alonso Roman is being caged simply for questioning the injustice with which he is treated. An injustice anywhere is an affront to justice everywhere, said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Alonso Roman is representative of the longing for freedom of the Cuban people and their rejection of the brutality, depravity and oppression of the totalitarian regime. It is reprehensible that thousands of men and women like Mr. Alonso Roman are languishing in hellish conditions because they refuse to accept the tyrannical dictatorship in Cuba today. Madam Speaker, it is unconscionable that peaceful Cubans are locked in a tyrant's dungeons for believing in a free Cuba. My Colleagues, we must demand freedom and human rights for all people, including those who live under the vicious and unforgiving darkness of totalitarian regimes. We must demand the immediate and unconditional release of Lazaro Joaquin Alonso Roman and every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend, the distinguished gentlewoman from New York, the chairman of the Rules Committee, Ms. Slaughter, for the time. And I yield myself such time as I may consume. Several years ago, Mr. Speaker, I had the distinct privilege to bring forth the first rule for a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has grown and begun to mature under the bipartisan oversight of the Appropriations Committee and of the Committee on Homeland Security. In fact, Ms. Slaughter and I worked together, when I was the chairman and she the ranking member of the select Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Rules, to make certain that the committee became the permanent standing committee that it is today. As we know, the Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, to help mobilize and to organize the Federal Government to the best of our ability to secure the homeland from further terrorist attacks. Thanks to our new concerted approach to security, and I think it is important to recognize, to the 180,000 hardworking employees of the Department of Homeland Security, we have not suffered further attacks. But we must not let our guard down. Within the last month alone, Mr. Speaker, we have seen several plans thwarted to attack both Fort Dix and a major airport in New York City. We must not lose our focus. We must continue our efforts to protect the United States from yet another deadly attack. There is an item in this legislation that helps fulfill a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission and that will provide additional security to districts that many of us represent throughout the country, including the one that I am honored to represent, districts with large airports. In its report, the 9/11 Commission recommended that the Transportation Security Agency expedite the installation of advanced in-line baggage screening equipment. Miami International Airport, which is in the district that I am honored to represent, is a high-security, category 10 airport on the front line of homeland security defense. Miami International Airport has approximately 1,160 international flights each week, more than any other airport in the United States. Miami International Airport has over 900 flights a week from Latin America, more than all other U.S. airports combined. Miami International ranks third in overall international passenger traffic. The Miami-Dade Aviation Department, which operates Miami International Airport, is currently building two new terminals at MIA and is incurring over $100 million in in-line Explosive Detection System, EDS, terminal modification costs. In 2005, TSA committed $20 million in Other Transaction Agreement funds which will almost cover the 75 percent Federal share for the south terminal project. As Miami International Airport begins the installation process of EDS in its north terminal, the airport still requires an additional funding agreement to cover the Federal share of the $79 million modification project. For fiscal years 2007 and 2008, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department is projected to spend $28.8 million on the north terminal modifications, $21.6 million of which falls under the Federal Government's cost share. I wish to commend the Appropriations Committee for allocating $560 million for Explosive Detection System, EDS, procurement and installations. These funds will help reimburse Miami International Airport in its efforts to complete its EDS installations. Mr. Speaker, there are still some concerns with this bill, as Ranking Member Rogers has stated publicly. There is concern about the rapid growth of funding represented by the bill, for example. And although the Appropriations Committee worked in a bipartisan manner to produce this bill, there is concern from many Members of this House about the process. As we know, the Appropriations Committee has announced that earmarks were not included in this bill and will only be added during the conference process with the Senate. It is not until that point that Members and the public will be able to see the earmarks. By adding earmarking during the conference process, Members will not have the opportunity to make amendments to remove or adjust earmarks approved by the majority on the Appropriations Committee. The announced procedure protects earmarks from what during the opening of the 110th Congress some refer to as the ``disinfectant of sunshine.'' This procedure for earmarks is in effect reversing a traditionally more open appropriations process. I urge our colleagues in the majority to reconsider this procedure and allow for an open appropriations process. I would like to commend the majority for bringing this important appropriations bill to the floor under an open rule. The House, as Ms. Slaughter mentioned, has historically considered appropriations bills under open rules in order to allow each Member the ability to offer germane amendments without having to preprint their amendments or receive approval from the Rules Committee. I hope that the majority will live up to their campaign promise of running a transparent House and continue our tradition of open rules with the rest of the appropriations bills this year. Mr. Speaker, at this time I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time, and I thank all of my colleagues who have taken part in this debate. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking for a ``no'' vote on the previous question, so we can amend this rule and allow the House to consider a change to the rules of the House to restore accountability and enforceability to the earmark rule. Under the current rule, so long as the chairman or sponsor of a bill, joint resolution, conference report or manager's amendment includes either a list of earmarks contained in the bill or report, or a statement that there are no earmarks, no point of order lies against the bill. This is the same as the rule in the last Congress. However, under the rule as it functioned under the Republican majority in the 109th Congress, even if the point of order was not available on the bill, it was always available on the rule as a question of consideration. But because the Democratic Rules Committee specifically exempts earmarks from the waiver of all points of order, they deprive Members of the ability to raise the question of earmarks on the rule. This was most recently discovered on the question of the Murtha earmark on the Intelligence authorization bill. This amendment will restore the accountability and enforceability of the earmark rule to where it was at the end of the 109th Congress to provide Members with an opportunity to bring the question of earmarks before the House for a vote. Without these changes, the new earmark rule, in effect, is nothing more than a fig leaf. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and extraneous materials immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder). (Mr. SOUDER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about Antonio Ramon Diaz Sanchez, a prisoner of conscience in totalitarian Cuba. Mr. Diaz Sanchez, an electrician by profession, is a member of the Christian Liberation Movement and a peaceful pro-democracy activist who desires to exercise his basic human rights and who supports freedom, democracy and the Rule of Law for the people of Cuba. Unfortunately, the nightmare that is the totalitarian regime continues to oppress the men and women of Cuba, especially those who work to shed light on the vicious crimes committed against the Cuban people by the tyrant. In March 2003, as part of the tyrant's condemnable crackdown on peaceful, pro-democracy activists, Mr. Diaz Sanchez was arrested simply for expressing his opinions. Mr. Diaz Sanchez was subjected to a sham trial where he was ``sentenced'' to 20 years of confinement in the infernal totalitarian dungeons of the brutal regime. Mr. Diaz Sanchez has continued to advocate for freedom and justice while locked in the hellish squalor of the dictatorship's gulag. He has participated in various hunger strikes to draw attention to the horrific conditions that political prisoners are subjected to in the gulag. He is routinely denied medical treatment although he currently suffers from painful colitis and has been denied a biopsy for a rapidly growing tumor on his prostrate. According to Mr. Diaz Sanchez's nephew, NGOs have offered Mr. Diaz anti-inflammatory medications to relieve his symptoms but as of yet neither he nor his family have received any such medications to relieve his symptoms. The burden of the cruel treatment he has received and the physical strain of the subhuman conditions in which Mr. Diaz Sanchez is forced to live have completely drained him of his desire to nourish himself. He survives on barely on a few spoonfuls of putrid food each day. In the face of such horrific mistreatment, the regime's henchmen refuse to provide Mr. Diaz or his family with medical diagnoses. Madam Speaker, let me be very clear, Mr. Diaz Sanchez is suffering at the whim of a monstrous regime just 90 miles from our shore, although he has done nothing other than desire that his children and the long- suffering people of Cuba live in freedom with fundamental human rights and dignity. Madam Speaker, Mr. Diaz Sanchez has courageously risked his life in order to bring a semblance of humane treatment to those confined in the nightmare that is the totalitarian gulag. His example shines a light of courage on the abominable disregard for human rights in that oppressed island. My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate and unconditional release of Antonio Ramon Diaz Sanchez and every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.