CALL CONGRESS - Cuba Travel Bill Faces Opposition in House

[magbana]

First, an article about the issue followed by information on how to make your voice heard with members of Congress.
magbana

From: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:53:07 -0500
Subject: Cuba travel bill faces opposition in House
To: [e-mail]


sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-flpcubablock23pnfeb23,0,6989749.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Cuba travel bill faces opposition in House
GOP says it has Democrat allies ready
By Alexia Campbell
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 23, 2009

Don't pack your bags for Cuba yet.

Nine members of the U.S. House recently filed a bill that would allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba for the first time in 46 years. But pro-embargo forces in Congress are poised to block it.

It happens every year, said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and every year embargo supporters kill similar bills before they get any traction. Even with Democrats in the majority , Diaz-Balart says enough bipartisan opposition has been recruited to stop the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act at the committee level.

"While we recognize that these are fights that take place, we have great confidence that we'll defeat them," said Diaz-Balart, a longtime advocate of U.S. sanctions against the communist nation.

He and other Florida leaders, such as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, have reached out to new members of Congress on the issue. They've found allies, he said, but would not reveal their names.

Now the bill awaits consideration from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where ranking member Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, has maintained a tough stance toward the Castro government.

The bill would also lift limits on travel by Cuban exiles living in the United States. It would prevent the president from regulating travel to the island in the absence of an armed conflict or imminent danger.

President George W. Bush was a sure veto in past sessions, but sponsors think this year will be different. President Barack Obama has called for easing some travel restrictions to the island.

"If we want to hasten democratic reform in Cuba, we need a new approach," said Matthew Specht, spokesman for Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who co-sponsored the bill.

If the United States lifted the travel ban to Cuba, it wouldn't make any difference to Jorge Avellana of the Cuban American Club in West Palm Beach. He won't return to the island as long as the Castro government is in power, he says, but he thinks Americans should be allowed to go there, just as Cubans can.

"I don't expect Cubans to be second-class citizens to Americans," said Avellana, who left the island when he was 14. "Why would I expect Americans to be second-class citizens to Cubans?"

Alexia Campbell can be reached at [e-mail] or 954-356-4513.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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CALL CONGRESS:

The House and Senate have introduced identical bills (HR 874 and S428) which would allow ALL U.S. citizens or legal residents to travel freely to Cuba. IFCO/Pastors for Peace strongly supports this initiative, as one of many steps that need to be taken to undo the unjust, immoral, and senseless US blockade.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATORS and ask them to give support and co-sponsorship to HR874 or S428

By phone

Call the Capitol switchboard: 202/225-3121, and ask for your representative/senators by name. Ask to speak with the staff person who deals with foreign affairs and/or US/Cuba relations. Tell them you're a constituent and you are asking your representative to co-sponsor and support "HR874/S428, the bill to allow travel between the US and Cuba." (It's ok to leave a voicemail message if you don't get through.)

By email

For the Senate get your senators contact via
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

and cut and paste in the following text - or your own words – into the email form:

YES TO S428. RESTORE THE RIGHT OF ALL AMERICANS TO TRAVEL TO CUBA

Dear Senator ___________,

I ask you to cosponsor S.428 that would restore my right as a US citizen to travel to Cuba unrestricted.
To cosponsor, contact the office of Senator Dorgan (D-ND) or Sen. Lugar (R-IN) or Sen. Enzi (R-WY) or Sen. Dodd (D-CT).

For the House get your representative's contact via
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml#W

Cut and paste the following text – or your own words – into the email form:

YES TO HR874. RESTORE THE RIGHT OF ALL AMERICANS TO TRAVEL TO CUBA

Dear Representative __________,

I ask you to cosponsor HR874 that would restore my right as a US citizen to travel to Cuba unrestricted.

To cosponsor, contact the office of Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass)

[Judi Lynn]

1. U.S. Congress set to open Cuban exiles' passage to island

Posted on Tuesday, 02.24.09
U.S. Congress set to open Cuban exiles' passage to island

A huge spending bill being debated by Congress would effectively lift the restrictions on Cuban-American families' travel to the island.

BY LESLEY CLARK AND FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON -- The 1,128-page budget bill that will begin to work its way through Congress this week contains key paragraphs that alter the shape of U.S.-Cuba policy and ease Cuba family travel restrictions by not funding enforcement.

~snip~
Amendments were added by Rep. José E. Serrano, a New York Democrat who chairs the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. That means he controls the Treasury Department's purse strings -- and it's the Treasury that investigates people who violate the Cuba travel ban.

''I have been working on this issue for a very, very, very long time,'' Serrano said. ``Now I am chairman of a committee that appropriates those dollars, and I can do something about it.''

If Obama does not make his own policy change, most of the new measures expire Sept. 30.

~snip~
''The American people do not see Cuba as a threat,'' Serrano said, ``and they can't figure out why we do not deal with them.''

But his measures are bound to meet stiff opposition. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who backs the current restrictions, said she believes the travel measure wouldn't pass on its own because most Republicans and about 80 Democrats are opposed.

Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez has informed Senate leadership that he will oppose any legislation that would change U.S.-Cuba policy -- a move that could make it more difficult, if not impossible, for the legislation to clear the Senate.

''Modifying our nation's policies at this point would be counterproductive and reward a repressive, authoritarian regime that has shown little concern for the security or well-being of its citizens,'' Martinez said.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/581/story/920292.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. As an afterthought, it's a filthy shame this material doesn't include the rest of us in this country

Why should the very people who came here in the first place be allowed to go right back for visits when none of the rest of us are allowed to go there at ALL?

It's pure political right-wing rancid stupidity, continuing a Cold War which faded away many years ago. Cuba was never a threat to the U.S., although the U.S. has been knocking off Cubans for various reasons since the 1800's. It's a true David and Goliath story, with the giant continuing to molest David year in, year out.

[Mika]

3. Not only that, but Florida will still ban professionals regulated by the DPR.

By cutting funding for enforcement, the codified ban remains on the books. That allows Florida to maintain its egregious ban on professionals regulated by the Fl Dept of Professional Regulation.

If the freedom to travel act is passed then Florida won't be able to set its own international policy, but as long as the ban remains federal law (enforcement funded or not) then I still will be banned. Travel to Cuba will risk my license to practice.

:argh:


The pain of this separation is emotionally choking. :(

[Judi Lynn]

4. Mika, didn't even know about the Florida ban! Good grief.

Maybe the Florida Congress will feel obligated to rethink that pathetic ban they rammed through once it's obvious which direction the rest of the country is going, if the federal policy changes, itself.

There's a petition posted by a new DU'er, jmcauliff, in LBN today:

Just a beginning
Updated at 11:16 AM

The language in the Appropriations Omnibus bill begins the process of a rational US relationship with Cuba and reflects two thirds of US public opinion. It does not obviate the necessity of President Obama using his authority to mandate a general license for 12 categories of people to people non-tourist travel, including Cuban American, educational, religious, humanitarian, cultural, sports and "support for the Cuban people".

Our letter calling upon him to do so has now attracted 1188 signers www.ipetitions.com/petition/obamacuba
John McAuliff

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3754936#3755219

[Mika]

5. So many horror stories since then Judi. Very hard to keep track of them.

It was in 2006 when the Florida legislature was being run by a particularly screwy exile gang of thugs (Mario Diaz Balart, David Rivera, and some others who ran against Castro) when they created and passed Florida's Travel to Terrorist States Act, which was overturned a couple of years later by the supreme court. Then, unable to prevent "rewarding Castro" by those means, the Florida legislature then created new DPR rules preventing travel by DPR regulated professionals. Doctors are just one of thousands of DPR regulated professions.

As long as federal law prevents us from traveling to Cuba, then any state can come up with their own policies regarding further sanctions on regulated professions.

Why Americans accept this clear abridgment of their rights is beyond me.

It is an outrage that one segment of Americans (and resident aliens) is clearly being granted greater rights than the rest of us.

If this passes, then Americans and resident aliens without family in Cuba will clearly become second class citizens - denied our full travel rights.


Looks like Jorge Mas Canosa was right. Americans are suckers. :puke: