Flake urges Congress to keep language on Cuba travel in bill

[Osolomia]

Billy House
Republic Washington Bureau
Oct. 30, 2003

WASHINGTON - Stripping House- and Senate-approved language to ease travel restrictions to Cuba from a spending bill would be an awkward example of democracy to the rest of the world, congressional supporters said Wednesday.

Instead, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., House sponsor of the amendment to loosen the 40-year-old restrictions on Americans, and others called on congressional leaders to leave the language intact despite Bush Administration threats of a veto.

"Clearly, it is the overwhelming judgment of this Congress that this ban is ineffective," Flake said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Flake, pointing to his amendment's passage last month in the House, 227 to 188, and identical language last week passed in the Senate, 59-36, said Senate-House negotiators who will devise a final two-house version of the spending bill should "recognize this is the will of the people."

… Added McGovern: "It's not enough to talk about democracy. We need to practice what we preach."

More…
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1030cuba-flake30.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Couldn't be clearer, could it?

Thanks for the excellent article. Snip:

White House spokesman Taylor Gross repeated Wednesday that senior presidential advisors are prepared to recommend a veto of the entire $90 billion Transportation and Treasury spending bill if the Cuba travel ban remained part of it.

But Reps. William Delahunt and James McGovern, both Democrats from Massachusetts, said that taking out the provision passed in both chambers erodes the democratic process.

"Congress clearly has spoken," Delahunt said. "If Republican leaders take this out it really abrogates the independence of the first branch of government."

We need to see this Cuban "exile" extremist faction taken OUT of American decision making on foreign policy.

[Say_What]

2. "awkward example of democracy to the rest of the world"

That's an understatement. Hey, this might get interesting.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Please read this information. I CANNOT BELIEVE BUSH DID THIS.

This is the absolute LIMIT!

On Oct. 1 the Treasury Department informed the Institute that editing a research paper is equivalent to providing a service to authors and therefore violates U.S. trade restrictions that prevent U.S.-based organizations from doing business with countries such as Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan.

"U.S. persons may not provide substantive or artistic alterations or enhancement of the manuscript, and IEEE may not facilitate the provision of such alterations or enhancements," the director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control wrote in a letter to the IEEE. Trade policy prohibits "the reordering of paragraphs or sentences, correction of syntax, grammar and replacement of inappropriate words by U.S. persons."

The IEEE must now apply for a special license to edit papers from researchers in trade embargoed nations.

Concerned that it may have otherwise violated U.S. trade laws, the IEEE had already stopped editing papers written by members in the embargoed countries, and had prevented those engineers from viewing its journals online. (snip)

http://www.caut.ca/english/bulletin/2003_oct/news/sciencepub.asp

[Judi Lynn]

3. A well done opinion

October 29, 2003

Bush Plays Politics with Cuba

Both houses of Congress recently approved easing the travel ban to Cuba. But the ban will likely remain because Republicans on the negotiating committee are removing that language from the bill in order to protect George Bush, who has threatened to veto it.

In Florida, Cuban policy is a highly-charged political issue because of strong anti-Castro sentiment among Cuban-Americans. But most of the country is in favor of easing the restrictions, and the president would be wise to follow the will not only of them but of the House and Senate. Democracy, which is what Cuba really needs, is being assaulted in this country for the sake of votes.

In 1963 Cuba was a real threat to the US, and Kennedy was brave and right to demand the removal of nuclear missiles from the island, but after forty years it is time to admit that we have accomplished nothing with our travel restrictions or trade embargoes. Cuba is no more a threat than Haiti or the Dominican Republic. The aging Fidel Castro is but a shell of the revolutionary who overpowered the corrupt but US supported Batista. Castro's, and therefore Cuba's threat to the US is more a matter of tradition, a continuation of anachronistic anti-Communist policies from the Cold War era.

It is time to stop politicizing Cuba. Lift the embargo, lift the travel ban, and let travel and trade do what nothing else has: free Cubans. (snip/)

http://www.thousandreasons.org/opinion/102903.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. Just spoke with a person in my Representative's office

and she said she was listening today to a speech made today by _Bush, and he was threatening to use his veto on the Cuba amendment.

She said she would like to see a showdown on this, too.

She also hopes the Cuba amendment makes it to the pResident, and he'll have to be exposed publically for disrespecting the will of the people in order to pander to the Miami Republican-voting Cuban "extremists."

[Say_What]

6. Contacting Members of the Conference Committee

Action: Contact the members of the conference committee to let them know that the American people expect the Cuba travel provisions to survive the conference committee process. The Democrats on the committee must feel pressure to stand up to the Republicans and fight for these amendments. Meanwhile, the Republicans need to know that the American people are watching this conference and will raise a MAJOR fuss if they act undemocratically. IF YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS ISN'T ON THIS LIST, SOLICIT ANY FRIENDS OR FAMILY WHO LIVE IN THESE DISTRICTS/STATES TO CONTACT CONGRESS.


<http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/countries/Cuba/travel_calls_conf.htm>

[Vogon_Glory]

7. Good For Flake Speaking Against the Travel Ban

Although I'm anything but an admirer of most Congressional Republicans these days, good for Congressman Flake for speaking against the travel ban for American citizens wishing to visit Cuba.

[Say_What]

8. CONTACT COMMITTEE MEMBERS OR FAX THE LETTER IN THIS POST

as it appears below the list of committee members:

Contacting Members of the Conference Committee


Action: Contact the members of the conference committee to let them know that the American people expect the Cuba travel provisions to survive the conference committee process. The Democrats on the committee must feel pressure to stand up to the Republicans and fight for these amendments. Meanwhile, the Republicans need to know that the American people are watching this conference and will raise a MAJOR fuss if they act undemocratically. IF YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS ISN'T ON THIS LIST, SOLICIT ANY FRIENDS OR FAMILY WHO LIVE IN THESE DISTRICTS/STATES TO CONTACT CONGRESS.

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Senator Kit Bond (R-MO)
Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Senator Mike Dewine (R-OH)
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL 10)
Rep. David Obey (D-WI 7)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD 5)
Rep. Earnest Istook (R-OK 5)
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA, 10)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA, 41)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY 5)
Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS 4)
Rep. Anne Northup (R-KY 3)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL 4)
Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY 20)
Rep. John Culberson, (R-TX 7)
Rep. John Olver (D-MA 1)
Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ 4)
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI 10)
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC 6)
Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ 9)

The message is the following:

Dear ______________

For the first time, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have both adopted legislation to lift the ban on travel by Americans to Cuba (as part of the Treasury-Transportation Appropriations bill).

I urge you to stand up to the Congressional leadership and refuse to let them drop the Cuba travel language from the final bill that is sent by Congress to President Bush. Because the House and Senate passed identical language, dropping the language would be contravening the will and the rules of Congress.

U.S. policy of isolating Cuba, economically and diplomatically, has been a failure for decades. The ban on travel by Americans to Cuba restricts our constitutional right to travel where we wish, and it limits very important contacts and opportunities for commerce between Americans and Cubans.

I urge you to stand strong, to support freedom for Americans and Cubans, and to fight to preserve the language permitting travel by Americans to Cuba. Please report to the House and Senate members our expression of support.

Sincerely,

Name
Address

<http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/countries/Cuba/travel_calls_conf.htm>

[Judi Lynn]

9. Cat, ADM defiant on Cuba travel

November 01, 2003
Cat, ADM defiant on Cuba travel


WASHINGTON — Defying a White House veto threat, Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. and Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. are part of a broad corporate coalition urging Congress to lift the ban on travel to Cuba. (snip/...)

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=10557

[Osolomia]

10. Cui Bono? The Cuba Embargo as Rip Off

Weekend Edition
November 1 / 2, 2003
CounterPunch

Cui Bono?
The Cuba Embargo as Rip Off
By SAUL LANDAU

OPINION: "U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure. That law is on the books and it must be enforced. We allow travel for limited reasons, including visit to a family, to bring humanitarian aid, or to conduct research. Those exceptions are too often used as cover for illegal business travel and tourism, or to skirt the restrictions on carrying cash into Cuba. We're cracking down on this deception." G. W. Bush, October 10, 2003

FACT: Administrative regulations don't prohibit Americans from traveling, but from spending money in Cuba, unless licensed to do so for research, media reporting, or family visits. "Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society, setting us apart.it often makes all other rights meaningful." Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, (concurring) Aptheker v. Secretary of State, 378 U.S. 500, 520 (1964).

For more than four decades, I've read false, stupid and downright zany reports about the US embargo and travel ban on Cuba. On October 10, when President Bush announced his new and tougher measures against Fidel Castro's regime in order to "hasten the arrival of a new, free, democratic Cuba," I almost laughed.

These steps are "only the beginning," Bush said, "of a more robust effort to break through to the Cuban people." Had he forgotten the last forty-four years and ten months of other presidents' robust efforts? Enough, I said. It's time to offer my own observations on the subject.

Much more...
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau11012003.html