House votes to ease some Cuba sanctions

WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday approved language that would allow Cuban-Americans to visit their relatives on the island more frequently and also ease some U.S. restrictions on trade with Cuba.

Most of the changes, which are tucked into a larger $410 billion spending bill, would expire on Sept. 30 unless there is a move by Congress or President Barack Obama to extend them. The bill that will fund government agencies through September passed in a 245 to 178 vote.

Under one of the measure's provisions, family members would be permitted to visit Cuba once a year, rather than once every three years.

That provision would also allow Cuban-Americans to spend $170 a day during their visit with relatives once a year. Spending during family visits is now capped at $50 per day.

The House's action appears to reflect momentum in efforts to force a reevaluation of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

The vote comes just two days after a top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana, issued a report that it is time to rethink the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo toward Cuba.

Obama has said that he favors easing some limits on family travel and other restrictive policies toward the island country, although he believes the trade embargo should stay in place as leverage for democratic reforms.

Obama also said during his campaign for president that he is open to meeting with Raul Castro, who took over leadership of Cuba from his ailing brother, Fidel.

But opponents of more-normal ties with Cuba, including Florida's Cuban-born GOP Sen. Mel Martinez, say they will work to block final passage of the House's proposed shifts to U.S. policy when the spending bill comes to the Senate, likely next week.

"I am very concerned about any efforts to modify our policies toward the Cuban government so long as the authoritarian regime continues to deny basic human rights to its people," said Martinez.

Another item in the bill would reverse Bush Administration regulations on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, by creating a general travel license to Cuba for Americans who sell those supplies.

And other language would eliminate the practice of requiring Cubans to pay for American produce up front before it leaves U.S. ports, and instead let them pay when the products arrive in Havana.

Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, who voted in favor of the spending bill, has pushed for easing some of the long-standing restrictive U.S. policies toward Cuba.

"Many of our neighbors are barred from visiting their sick and dying loved ones because of these burdensome restrictions," said Castor. "Loosening the restrictions will allow family members to travel during times of personal crisis."

But Ken Lundberg, a Martinez spokesman, said the senator has already notified Senate leaders of his intention to "exercise his rights as a senator" to block any bill containing such provisions. Any such procedural moves could be difficult to overcome.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said he could not yet predict the fate of the Cuba provisions as that Democratic-controlled chamber considers the budget bill.

Even if Martinez succeeds in blocking them in the Senate, some changes soon in U.S.-Cuba policy may be inevitable.

Obama had promised during his campaign to lift some of the family travel constraints, as well as reconsider the $300 annual limit in monetary remittances that can be sent to family members in Cuba.

And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told the Senate during her confirmation that the administration planned an overall "review" of Cuba policy.

Obama is expected to attend a mid-April "Summit of the Americas" in Trinidad and Tobago in mid-April, and by that time to may make some announcements of his own regarding U.S. policy to Cuba.

Lugar's report this week is sure to add fuel to the debate over the effectiveness of the U.S. embargo, as the Obama administration mulls its strategy for the island nation.

The report argues that the embargo on Cuba "has failed to achieve its stated purpose of 'bringing democracy' to the Cuban people," and has even given the Cuban government a convenient "scapegoat" for their nation's economic ills.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@mediageneral.com or 1 (202) 662-7673.