House votes to ease limits on Cuba trade, travel

[cal04]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE51O7AG20090225

U.S. restrictions on trade with Cuba and family travel to the island would be eased under legislation passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday but the changes could encounter trouble in the Senate.

Supporters hope congressional action will be the first step toward reviewing and possibly reversing the decades-old U.S. policy of shunning Cuba. Tucked into a larger spending bill, most of the changes would expire on September 30 unless there is a move to extend them by Congress or President Barack Obama.

Obama has made clear he favors relaxing limits on family travel and cash remittances by Cuban Americans to Cuba, although he has said the U.S. trade embargo against that country should stay in place to press for democratic reforms.

The legislation approved by the House does not lift the overall embargo. But it would prohibit the Treasury Department from enforcing Bush administration rules requiring payment of cash in advance for agricultural sales to Cuba.

[Thickasabrick]

1. Why would this run into trouble in the Senate? I thought that alot

of Republicans were ok with this.

[Canuckistanian]

2. And so it ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

America's foreign policy towards Cuba has been pathetic for 40 years.

China should have made a mockery of that policy 20 years ago with the "most favored trade nation" status.

The rest of the world has moved on from the Castro regime sanctions.

It's an inevitability, not a breakthrough.

[honoluludaniel]

4. Unfortunately, it hasn't ended yet.....

Even if this passes, it just lifts some restrictions for people with family in Cuba. The key is the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, which lifts ALL travel restrictions to Cuba. But your guess is as good as mine as to when/if that will pass. Of course, all that is irrelevant if Obama just signs an Executive Order lifting the travel ban.

[defendandprotect]

3. Lift the embargo -- and let's junk this rigid, authoritarian right-wing BS right now--!!!

[Ilsa]

5. I am fine with that too. Just do it. Allow families in the US to send aid to their

families in Cuba. Open a new market for fair trade in Cuba. I bet we could use the business.