Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my privilege to yield 3 minutes to my dear friend and colleague from Florida (Ms. Ros- Lehtinen).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I would have opposed amendments like Dr. Broun's on the floor, but I think that everyone should have an opportunity to be heard, even with ideas that I think are premature, because I don't know how the people of Puerto Rico are going to vote. So it's premature to say at this stage, okay, you have to speak this language or the other language because you're going to vote this way or the other way. No. No. All this does is start a process that will allow the people of Puerto Rico to speak. And it's the first time that there has been a federally authorized referendum for the people of Puerto Rico, and I think it's fair. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I support the historic underlying legislation being brought to the floor today. Again, I commend Mr. Pierluisi and Governor Fortuno. In order to rightly return, however, to the open rule precedent set by the Republicans in 1998, I will be asking for a ``no'' vote on the previous question so that we can amend this rule and allow the House to consider the Puerto Rico Democracy Act under an open rule. 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. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to my friend from Georgia, Dr. Broun.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to my friend, the distinguished ranking member of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the Ladies in White are a group of wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of Cuban political prisoners. The group came together after the arrests of 75 Cuban dissidents in April 2003. Seventy-five Cuban political prisoners who, 7 years ago, joined the thousands of others who are imprisoned in Cuba because of their political beliefs or for ``crimes'' that are only ``crimes'' in a country brutally oppressed by a totalitarian regime of gangsters, by gangsters, and for gangsters. Because that is what the Castro brothers are--gangsters. Fidel Castro has been a gangster since he was a juvenile delinquent. He became a Communist to give ideological clothing to his gangsterism. Raul Castro came to gangsterism via Marxism-Leninism, after his brother sent him as an almost illiterate adolescent to then-Czechoslovakia, where he received a rigorous indoctrination in Marxism-Leninism. So the brothers arrived at gangsterism via separate paths, but they are both experienced and ruthless practitioners of the most violent and brutal forms of gangsterism. The Ladies in White experience the tactics of the Castros' gangsterism every single day. The Castros' state security apparatus pays and trains thugs to strike fear in the hearts of all Cubans in order to keep the regime in power. The thugs, the plainclothes terrorists of the Castros' regime, harass, intimidate, insult, spit upon, and engage in violence against the unarmed dissidents and other independent civil society members in Cuba. These spectacles are known as ``acts of repudiation.'' The international press refers to the plainclothes thugs of the Castros' state security apparatus as ``civilian government supporters,'' but that doesn't change their true nature. No, they're not ``plainclothes government supporters.'' They're plainclothes thugs of Cuban state security. On recent Sundays, the Ladies in White have gone to church, as every Sunday, to pray for their family members who are political prisoners, and the thugs have become more violent. Protected by uniformed state security agents, the plainclothes thugs have spat upon and committed acts of violence against Laura Pollan, Bertha Soler, Reina Tamayo, Julia Esther Nunez, Asuncion Carrillo, Loida Valdez, Laura Maria Labrada, and the other Ladies in White. I hereby submit for the Record the names of 96 Ladies in White who have been actively demanding the release of Cuban political prisoners in recent months. 1. Martha Diaz Rondon 2. Regla Vaillant Planas 3. Mildre Noemi Sanchez Infante 4. Ercilia Correoso Perez 5. Maritza Castro Martinez 6. Blanca Hernandez Moya 7. Lilia Castaner Hernandez 8. Ivonne Malleza Galano 9. Deysi Lazara Suarez Martinez 10. Odalys Sanabria Rodriguez 11. Caridad Caballero Batista 12. Zoila Hernandez Diaz 13. Gertrudis Ojeda Suarez 14. Niurkis Rivero Despaigne 15. Mercedes Fresneda Castillo 16. Sara Martha Fonseca Acevedo 17. Ismari Salomon Carcases 18. Tania Montoya Vazquez 19. Yolanda Martinez Guerra 20. Guadalupe Varela Mora 21. Zayli Figueroa Acosta 22. Odalys Zurman Gonzalez 23. Barbara Couyedo Riego 24. Miriam Espinosa del Valle 25. Doraida Perez Paceiro 26. Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera 27. Mayra Morejon Hernandez 28. Mari Blanca Avila Esposito 29. Petra Serafina Diaz Castillo 30. Rosario Morales La Rosa 31. Sonia Garro Alfonso 32. Maylisis Abrahantes Munoz 33. Juana Gomez Riego 34. Yudermis Fonseca Rondon 35. Crispina Xiomara Duquesne Suarez 36. Doralis Alvares Soto 37. Ana Iris Vega Rodriguez 38. Lazara M. Caballero Betancourt 39. Marlenis Guerra Martin 40. Nerys Castillo Moreno 41. Tania Maceda Guerra 42. Caridad Sarduy Fernandez 43. Raquel Castillo Urquiza 44. Sandra Guerra Perez 45. Maria Elena Fernandez 46. Yaneris Perez Rey 47. Roxaida Ramirez Matos 48. Dulce Avalo Diaz 50. Ariela Riviaux Castillo 51. Evelia Hernandez Ravelo 52. Georgina Noa Monte 53. Belinda Barzaga Lugo 54. Marioris Moreno Noa 55. Xiomara Duquesne Suarez 56. Mirtha Gomez Colas 57. Madeline Lazara Betancourt 58. Yaquelin Cutino 59. Gladis Lugo Exposito 60. Dulce Maria Quintana 61. Suyoanis Tapia Mayeta 62. Leonor Reynord Borges 63. Leydi Coca Quesada 64. Noely Camila Araujo Molina 65. Yordanka Pena Lopez 66. Yeni Palenzuela Izquierdo 67. Ana Aguililla 68. Laura Ines Pollan Toledo 69. Bertha Soler Fernandez 70. Melba Santana Ariz 71. Reyna Luisa Tamayo Danger 72. Belkis Cantillo Ramirez 73. Alejandrina Garcia de la Rivas 74. Julia Nunez Pacheco 75. Nelida Borrego Aragon 76. Reyna Maria Ortiz Tamayo 77. Milka Maria Pena Martinez 78. Ana Belkis Ferrer Garcia 79. Loida Valdes Gonzalez 80. Lidia Esther Lima Valdes 81. Magaly Broche de la Cruz 82. Isabel Sanchez Altarriba 83. Yamile Velazquez Batista 84. Sonia Alvarez Campillo 85. Asuncion Carrillo Hernandez 86. Irene Viera Filloy 87. Barbara Rojo Arias 88. Iraida Soledad Rivas Verdecia 89. Amada Evelia Hernandez Ravel 90. Catalina Cano 91. Elsa Gonzalez Padron 92. Belkis Barzaga Lugo 93. Gisela Delgado Sablon 94. Noelia Pedraza Jimenez 95. Nancy Sanchez Altarriba 96. Mercedes Acosta antiago de Cuba I also submit for the Record a letter sent today by representatives of the Ladies in White outside of Cuba, Blanca Reyes Castanon and Yolanda Huerga, asking international leaders for support in the Ladies in White's struggle for human rights and liberty. March 27, 2010. Dear Sir, We write you as the Representatives of the Ladies in White in Europe and the United States, to seek your urgent attention for the current plight of Cuba's political prisoners and their families. The Ladies in White are members of independent civil society and the group was born spontaneously, seven years ago, as a result of the arrest of 75 members of the peaceful opposition by the Cuban regime during the Black Spring of 2003. Wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of these prisoners only ask for the right to see their unjustly jailed relatives freed. By this means we seek to ask, that as a representative of a democratic nation where human rights and freedom of speech are respected, that you attempt, and within your ability, interest yourself personally and seek the attention of those individuals and institutions that you see fit, to defend these women, and their relatives, so that all hostility that they suffer in the streets of Havana and in all of Cuba cease, both physically and verbally, for defending their right to freedom. We thank you for your time and cooperation, and we trust in your invaluable help, at the same time that we insist that the current situation is extremely delicate and dangerous. Respectfully, Blanca Reyes Castanon, Representatives in Europe. Yolanda Huerga, Representative in the United States. This last Sunday, the day before yesterday, the Ladies in White were surrounded and subjected to 7 hours of insults and acts of violence by the plainclothes thugs of the Castros' state security apparatus. Surrounded and subjected to nightmarish, abominable insults and grotesque sexual gestures, as well as loud, constant screams and chants of communist slogans and violence for 7 hours, the day before yesterday, subjected to the well-planned tactics which are part of the training of the plainclothes state security agents of the Castros' gangster regime. But the Ladies in White continue to stand tall. Like the political prisoners who they defend, the Ladies in White represent the true Cuba. They embody the decency, patriotism, and love of the real Cuba--not the grotesque, perverted hatred, envy, and perfidy of the Castros and their gangster regime. This evening, my thoughts and prayers of limitless admiration and solidarity are with Cuba's Damas de Blanco--the Ladies in White.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Comcast Cares Day, an annual day of service that is one of the largest single-day volunteer efforts in the country. Comcast is an active and engaged member of the Miami-Dade community and supports its well-being through annual volunteer activities. This year's event will be the ninth annual company-wide day of service. Since 2001, Comcast employees have given more than 500,000 hours of service to more than 725 non-profit community partners across the country. In recognition of the efforts of their employees, The Comcast Foundation has also contributed $8 million to its community partners in support of their year-round work in our communities. Comcast Miami has announced the Edgar J. Hall Special Populations Center as the recipient of Comcast Cares Day 2010. Edgar J. Hall Special Population Center is part of the City of Hialeah's Recreation and Community Services Department, which provides recreational programs for adults with disabilities, particularly the developmentally disabled. It is home to the largest Special Olympics delegation in Miami-Dade County. On April 24th more than 600 employees and their families will start Comcast Cares Day at Bucky Dent Park in the City of Hialeah. Projects include the planting of a food garden, a grounds and building make- over, and new upgrades which will increase accessibility for the disabled. I wish to recognize Comcast and their employees for their dedication to serving the community, and I congratulate the Edgar J. Hall Special Population Center and the City of Hialeah for being this year's beneficiary of Comcast Cares Day.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I truly hope this massive bill is not passed by the House today. If it does become law, it will constitute a decisive step in the weakening of the United States. At precisely the time when we should be implementing necessary reforms to strengthen and save Medicare, for example, this legislation raids Medicare by more than $500 billion in order to pay for a new, massive entitlement. At a time when it would still be possible to enact entitlement reforms to prevent a Greece-style fiscal catastrophe in the future, when genuinely painful economic medicine will be needed, we are creating a massive new entitlement. We could have avoided the social convulsion and profound pain that prolonged fiscal irresponsibility inevitably brings to nations, but this President and this Congressional majority went with dogma instead. And when the time comes for the United States to have to face economic reality, and painful traumatic reforms are implemented by a future President and a future Congress, the U.S. military posture, our standard of living, the American middle class as we know it, those interconnected realities which have been so wonderful in characterizing modern America and which this President and this Congressional majority apparently seem to take for granted, those realities will be but historical memories. This legislation is dishonest. It is irresponsible. It should be defeated.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my good friend, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), for the time. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I would like to take a minute to contrast what the majority is doing today with what it is expected to do this weekend. Today, the majority has brought forth a rule to provide 1 hour of debate for consideration of H.R. 3644, the Ocean, Coastal, and Watershed Education Act, and another hour of debate for H.R. 1612, the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2009. That is a total of 2 hours of debate on bills that would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish education and watershed programs to advance environmental literacy, and expand the authorization to provide service-learning opportunities on public lands and train public land managers. I thank my good friend for thoroughly detailing and covering what is in those bills. If the majority proceeds as expected later this weekend, Madam Speaker, the House will prohibit, other than in the rule, all time to debate the Senate health care bill and will send it to the President for his signature. So that bill, the Senate health care bill, would become law even though the House of Representatives would never consider it, never debate the bill. The House, in fact, has never even held a committee meeting on the Senate health care bill. On Sunday, it is expected that the majority will deem the bill passed, and in a few days it would be law, the signature issue of this President and this congressional majority. You would think, Madam Speaker, that they would proudly embrace their signature accomplishment. You would think that they would welcome debate on it. But they do not, because they know that the Senate bill is fatally flawed. The American people deserve a full and complete debate in the House on the Senate health care bill, but they won't get it. Again, let's juxtapose that reality with today's actions. Today, 2 hours of debate on two noncontroversial bills that cost $300 million and absolutely no debate, no committee hearings on a bill that costs nearly $1 trillion, covers one-sixth of our economy, and will affect every single American. That is unfair and inappropriate. Last year, the majority rushed through a 300-page amendment at 3 in the morning that no one was able to read on cap-and-trade. At that time, the American people rightly stood up and demanded that Congress read the bill. After this weekend's action, the people will demand that Congress not only read bills, but that we debate and vote on bills. It would seem like common sense, Madam Speaker. But with this majority, it often seems as though common sense is the least common of the senses. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for supporting 2 or 3 hours of debate on one-sixth of our economy. I would point out that, pursuant to House rules, the deeming, which is presumed will occur with regard to the Senate bill in the debate on the rule itself, that debate is limited to 1 hour. So I would assume the 2 or 3 hours total would be after that bill, the Senate bill, is deemed to have passed by the 1 hour of debate on the rule. But suffice it to say, it is an improvement that, with regard to one- sixth of the economy, our friends are saying that we should have 2 or 3 hours. But we will continue pressing. Anyway, I would ask my friend if he has any further speakers. I have none.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, having said that, since there are no more Members on this side of the aisle who have requested time, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Would my friend yield?

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Actually, I was going to inquire, because I yielded my time back as my friend knows because we had no further speakers, but Mr. Lungren has arrived and would like to address the House.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I would ask unanimous consent to reclaim our time, Madam Speaker.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Lungren).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I thank my friend again for his courtesy, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, inside the gulag of prisons in the Caribbean totalitarian state of the Castro brothers, a few days ago six heroes managed to get a statement out of one of the prisons, and I'd like to read it at this time. ``We continue to suffer cruel treatment, inhuman, degrading treatment, and even torture in the Communist regime's prisons. We ask all who support Cuba's freedom to, between March 12 and March 31, unite in short periods of fasting and study of the Bible, demanding the liberation of all political prisoners and liberty and democracy in Cuba. Please engage in short fasts and prayer sessions in your homes, churches, or other public gathering places, and speak out in articles and conferences to reflect upon and help implement, through peaceful, just, and patriotic means, the long-sought objectives of the Cuban people.'' And this statement is from Oscar Elias Biscet, Julio Cesar Galvez, Ricardo Gonzalez, Normando Hernandez, Regis Iglesias, and Angel Moya. They are in the Combinado del Este prison of Cuba. This was sent March 3rd. The Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies was formed this last Friday, Madam Speaker, under the leadership of Lithuania, that is chairing the Community of Democracies, and especially a magnificent diplomat, Ambassador Pavilionis. Lithuania led the Community of Democracies to form a parliamentary assembly, the Parliamentary Forum, and the first meeting was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Friday. And the first resolution by motion of the new president of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, President Zingeris, the first resolution of that Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, I'd like to read. It's titled Calling for Support of Cuba's Pro-Democracy Movement. In the convening meeting, the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, Vilnius, Lithuania, March 12, 2010: ``Whereas the pro-democracy movement in Cuba has grown at a rapid pace over the last 3 years, and specifically expressions of the movement are evident today in the explosion of bloggers, independent journalists and musicians, artists, writers, and others who are using their talents to denounce the atrocities of the dictatorship, all while putting forth new ideas for the transition to democracy; ``Whereas there are still extraordinary obstacles to overcome such as the continued repression by the totalitarian dictatorship, extremely limited access to the Internet and 'texting' capabilities, and a lack of a coherent message of solidarity from the international community; ``Whereas the dictatorship is fearful of the growth of the pro- democracy movement; ``Whereas the message of the movement is coherent and clear in demanding freedom for all Cuban political prisoners, beginning with those are gravely ill inside the prisons, freedom of expression, and fair multiparty elections with international supervision; ``Whereas this common position of the Cuban pro-democracy movement requires recognition, dissemination, and solidarity on the part of the international community; ``Whereas now more than ever the Cuban pro-democracy movement requires that the democratic community take concrete steps to demonstrate its solidarity; ``Now, therefore it is resolved by the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies that it condemns the brutality of the Cuban regime against Cuban political prisoners; expresses its full support for the Cuban pro-democracy movement; honors Cuban pro-democracy fighters such as the martyr Orlando Zapata Tamayo and express its admiration for the efforts of other heroes such as Guillermo Farinas; calls for the immediate release of all Cuban political prisoners and free multiparty elections in Cuba; and calls on the democratic community to take concrete steps in demonstrating their solidarity with the Cuban pro-democracy movement by providing humanitarian and technological assistance to the pro- democracy movement, urging foreign diplomatic posts in Havana to strengthen contacts with pro-democracy activists on the island, encouraging foreign dignitaries to visit Cuba for the sole purpose of meeting with pro-democracy activists, and looking for opportunities to reiterate and support the common position of the Cuban pro-democracy movement in the international community.'' This action by the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies deserves commendation. Those heroes in the gulag who are suffering today are the leaders of Cuba tomorrow, and they deserve our support.