EFFORT TO LIFT EMBARGO MAKES SENSE FOR MORE THAN ONE REASON

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau is fighting a battle inside Congress and her party against embargoes on sale of agricultural products to Cuba and a handful of other nations the federal government lists as terrorist sponsors. Republican congressional leaders, especially majority whip Tom DeLay, oppose any trade with terrorist countries.

On the other side is Emerson, who with a Republican colleague from Washington State sponsors an amendment attached to the agriculture spending bill that would lift the U.S. food and medicine embargo on Cuba, Libya, Sudan, Iran and North Korea. The amendment would require congressional approval for future embargoes. Further, all approved embargoes would expire after two years unless the president requested an extension and Congress approved it.

Emerson makes the case that the embargoes should be lifted for both humanitarian and economic reasons. Lifting the embargoes would boast the sale of U.S. farm commodities, providing a boost for the farm economy nationwide. Despite references to terrorist nations, Emerson says the issue is really Cuba. "It really boils down to Cuba," Emerson told this newspaper.

Emerson answers concerns by saying her amendment is "tightly written," adding that it wouldn't allow the federal government to extend credit to Cuba and other specified countries. Sales would be by the private sector and not the government, she stresses.

Especially affected would be rice farmers in the Bootheel and across the country. Before the embargo, Cuba was the biggest importer of U.S. rice. After that, Iran became the largest importer of the same commodity until it too was slapped with an embargo.

"The bottom line is that embargoes on food and medicine don't work and only hurt our farmers and ranchers right here in the U.S.," said Emerson. "Farmers export more than a third of their production, and they need access to overseas markets to provide for their families."

Emerson makes a good case for the need for these international sales and for a new administration that will more aggressively go about seeking such markets.