The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“OSWALDO PAYA WAY” mentioning Charles E. Schumer was published in the Senate section on pages S5224-S5225 on July 30.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
OSWALDO PAYA WAY
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 2045 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 2045) to designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as ``Oswaldo Paya Way''.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 2045) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, was read the third time, and passed as follows
S. 2045
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 started 61 years of an ongoing dictatorship, systemic human rights abuses, and a lack of basic freedom of press, religion, assembly, and association that continue to this day under the Communist rule of Raul Castro and his successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel;
(2) Oswaldo Paya Sardinas was a Cuban political dissident dedicated to promoting democratic freedoms and human rights in Cuba;
(3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always viewed that commitment to democracy and freedom as a threat to the existence of the Communist Party of Cuba;
(4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, widely believed to have been carried out by the Castro regime, took the lives of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero, another dissident;
(5) the official investigation into the crash has been demonstrated to be compromised, and the Castro regime has offered no plausible evidence of the innocence of the Castro regime in the crash, leaving the circumstances of the death of Oswaldo Paya unknown;
(6) opposition by Oswaldo Paya to the Communist Party of Cuba began at a young age, when he refused to become a member of the Young Communist League as a primary school student, and continued through high school, when he publicly criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union;
(7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to the opposition by Oswaldo Paya to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union by sending Oswaldo Paya to a labor camp for 3 years;
(8) Oswaldo Paya forewent a chance to escape Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to continue the fight for democracy in Cuba, saying, ``This is what I am supposed to be, this is what I have to do.'';
(9) by creating the Varela Project in 1998, Oswaldo Paya demonstrated his staunch commitment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for his fellow Cubans;
(10) in recognition of his determination for political reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo Paya was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 and the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in 2003 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by former Czech President Vaclav Havel in 2005;
(11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed S. Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniversary of the death of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, commemorating his legacy and commitment to democratic values and principles, and calling on the Cuban government to allow an impartial, third-party investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death; and
(12) renaming the street in front of the Embassy of Cuba in the District of Columbia after Oswaldo Paya serves as an expression of solidarity between the people of the United States and the people of the Cuba, who are engaged in a long, nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OSWALDO PAYA WAY.
(a) Designation of Way.--
(1) In general.--The area between the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, shall be known and designated as
``Oswaldo Paya Way''.
(2) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the area referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to Oswaldo Paya Way.
(b) Designation of Address.--
(1) Designation.--The address of 2630 16th Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, shall be redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya Way.
(2) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the address referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 2630 Oswaldo Paya Way.
(c) Signs.--The District of Columbia shall construct 2 street signs that shall--
(1) contain the phrase ``Oswaldo Paya Way'';
(2) be placed immediately above existing signs at the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia; and
(3) be similar in design to the signs used by the District of Columbia to designate the location of Metro stations.
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