June 19, 2003

The goal for the 108th Congress articulated by members of Congress working to change US policy toward Cuba, and by advocates seeking more engagement with Cuba, is to mount a winning campaign on ending the travel ban. The effort to lift US restrictions on travel to Cuba will likely be the primary focus of the House and Senate Cuba Working Groups this year. Strong support for ending the travel restrictions has held firm in both the House and Senate . . . despite Bush Administration efforts to label Cuba as a security or proliferation threat and to encourage the Organization of American States (OAS) to partner with the United States in sanctioning Cuba, . . . and despite the heavy criticism of Cuba from Congress, including from many members of Congress supportive of engagement, over the recent detention and sentencing of more than 75 dissidents and the summary executions of several ferryboat hijackers.

The OAS indicated its preference to talk about Cuba in a balanced way, not only about human rights, but also to discuss the United States’ isolation of Cuba and the embargo. In a separate action, the member nations of the OAS for the first time voted to exclude the United States from representation on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, considered the most prestigious human rights monitoring body in the Western Hemisphere. The US candidate for this body was Rafael E. Martinez, brother of Cuban-American Mel Martinez, the secretary of housing and urban development and a leading fund-raiser for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush among Cuban-Americans in Florida. Rafael Martinez, who was also born in Cuba, is an Orlando, Florida, lawyer.

House and Senate Travel Bills:
Back on the travel front, the two Working Groups’ companion bills, HR 2071 and S 950, continue to collect cosponsors: the House bill now stands at 55 cosponsors and the Senate bill at 20. You may search the Thomas website, http://thomas.loc.gov/ , using the bill numbers, and then looking under “Bill Summary and Status File”, to view a list of the cosponsors. If your representative or senators are not cosponsors of these bills, please urge them to cosponsor (see What Can You Do? below).

Action NOW in educating and encouraging your members of Congress, especially in the House, is critical. We especially urge you to be in touch with newly-elected members of Congress and members of the House Transportation/Treasury subcommittee, as they (especially the Republicans) will be subject to intense lobbying on the Cuba issue from the White House and the Republican House leadership. Lists of new members and of the subcommittee members follow this message; please be in touch with them (see What Can You do? below).

House of Representatives Timeline:
In the House, Cuba travel action is expected during the appropriations process, as has occurred in the past several years. The timeline currently expected is consideration of the Transportation/Treasury Appropriations bill (which will likely be the vehicle for the Cuba travel amendment) in committee during the week of July 7th or July 14th. If that prediction holds, the bill would come to the House floor for a vote either the week of July 14th or July 21st. At that time, the House Cuba Working Group would offer an amendment to cut off Treasury Department funding for the enforcement of the travel ban. This strategy isn’t as “clean” as bringing the free-standing travel bill, HR 2071, to the House floor to actually change policy; but House Republican leadership will certainly do everything in their power to prevent that from happening. Because Republicans control the committees in the House, they are able to block this bill from reaching the floor for a vote. If the bill reached the House floor, it would certainly pass; and the House leadership knows that.

Also in the House, legislation may be introduced disapproving of the March decision by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to eliminate the category of people-to-people educational travel to Cuba. If passed, this legislation would reverse OFAC’s decision. It is not yet clear whether this strategy will be pursued, or if the House Cuba Working Group will reply upon the appropriations process to try to reverse the OFAC rules on travel.

In the Senate:
One of the leaders on Cuba travel initiatives, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), has put a ''hold'' on Roger Noriega’s (Ambassador to the OAS and former aide to Senator Jesse Helms) nomination for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in order to pressure Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to allow an up-or-down vote on the full Senate floor on S 950, the bill to end US restrictions on travel to Cuba. It is our hope that this travel bill will actually make it to the Senate floor, where we predict that it would pass. Failing getting the bill to the Senate floor, the Senate Cuba Working Group would likely also attempt an amendment process, similar to that of the House described above.

For your information, Noriega’s confirmation is also being held up by a move from Senator Chris Dodd (D-MA) in which he is requesting access to two Cuba-related documents: a memo that former US Interests Section Chief Vikki Huddleston wrote when she left the post last year, and documents that the Bush Administration may have sent to new Interests Section Chief James Cason instructing him how to reach out to Cuban dissidents.

What Can You Do?
1) Call your representative and senators as soon as possible with this message “As a constituent, I urge you to co-sponsor and/or vote for the (House) Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2003, HR 2071; or the (Senate) Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2003, S. 950. These bills would return to the US people their constitutional right to unrestricted travel to Cuba. Now more than ever, broadening contact between our two peoples is the best way to build a more constructive and coherent policy.” You may contact your members of Congress’ Washington, DC, office by calling the US Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 and asking to be transferred to the specific office. Or, you may call them in their state office; phone numbers may be found on their websites by visiting www.house.gov or www.senate.gov . Email addresses and phone numbers for district offices are also usually available on these websites. Because votes in the House on these issues are likely to happen in some form within the next several weeks, your calls at this time are crucial. Please participate in changing this policy. Calls to new members of Congress and members of the Transportation/Treasury subcommittee are especially important (listed below).

2) In addition to making calls, we strongly urge you to gather a small group of people to accompany you to visit your congressperson in her/his district office during the July 4 recess. We are attaching a “how to” sheet on meeting with your member of Congress. [If you can’t download the page from this message, let us know and we will send it to you in plain text.] This sheet will assist you in preparing, organizing and scheduling appointments with your member of Congress. Pulling together a diverse delegation (representatives from church, agriculture, solidarity, business, etc.) strengthens your message. Also consider learning your member of Congress’ schedule during the recess and attend any town meetings that she/he holds for constituents; be prepared with questions on Cuba policy.

3) If you haven’t already done so, sign the travel petition to President Bush (and recruit others to sign it) found at www.cubacentral.com. This petition will be used by both the House and Senate to support their efforts to pass legislation by demonstrating the breadth of citizen support for ending the travel ban to Cuba. [Please don’t “double sign”; if you sign twice, we just have to sort through the list of signers and remove all duplicates. But please help us look for new signers.]

4) To add friends and colleagues to this network to receive monthly emailed Cuba policy updates/action alerts, send an email to lawg@lawg.org, with the person’s name, address, and email, asking that they be added to the Cuba Policy Email Network.

Thanks for all you do. This summer will be key in moving closer to opening engagement with Cuba, but your help continues to be crucial. Please make the calls now!

Sincerely,

Mavis Anderson
Philip Schmidt
Latin America Working Group
www.lawg.org

HOUSE MEMBERS OF THE TRANSPORTATION/TREASURY SUBCOMMITTEE

Istook, Ernest (R-OK 5th)
Wolf, Frank (R-VA 10th)
Lewis, Jerry (R-CA 41st)
Rogers, Harold (R-KY 5th)
Tiahrt, Todd (R-KS 4th)
Northup, Anne (R-KY 3rd)
Aderholt, Robert (R-AL 4th)
Sweeney, John (R-NY 20th)
Culberson, John (R-TX 7th)
Young, Bill (R-FL 10th) – chair of full Appropriations Committee
Olver, John (D-MA 1st)
Pastor, Ed (D-AZ 4th)
Kilpatrick, Carolyn (D-MI 13th)
Clyburn, James (D-SC 6th)
Rothman, Steven (D-NJ 9th)
Obey, David (D-WI 7th)—ranking member on full Appropriations Committee

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ELECTED IN MOST RECENT ELECTIONS

Alexander, Rodney (D-LA 5th) – Alexandria, Monroe
Balance, Frank (D-NC 1st) – Williamston, Norliana
Beauprez, Bob (R-CO 7th) -- Wheatridge
Bell, Chris (D-TX 25th) – Houston
Bishop, Rob (R-UT 1st) – Ogden
Bishop, Tim (D-NY 1st) – Coram
Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN 7th) – Memphis, Clarksville, Franklin
Bonner, Jo (R-AL 1st) – Mobile
Bradley, Jeb (R-NH 1st) – Manchester, Dover
Brown-Waite, Ginny (R-FL 5th) – Dade City, Brooksville
Burgess, Michael (R-TX 26th) – Lewisville
Burns, Max (R-GA 12th) – Augusta, Savannah, Statesboro
Cardoza, Dennis (D-CA 18th) – Merced, Modesto
Carter, John (R-TX 31st) – Round Rock, College Station
Case, Ed (D-HI 2nd) – Honolulu
Chocola, Chris (R-IN 2nd) – South Bend
Cole, Tom (R-OK 4th) – Norman, Lawton
Cooper, Jim (D-TN 5th) – Nashville
Davis, Artur (D-AL 7th) – Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Selma, Livingston, Demopolis
Davis, Lincoln (D-TN 4th) – Jamestown, Rockwood, Columbia
Diaz-Balart, Mario (R-FL 25th) – Miami, Naples
Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL 5th) – Chicago
Feeney, Tom (R-FL 24th) – Orlando, Port Orange, Titusville
Franks, Trent (R-AZ 2nd) – Glendale
Garrett, Scott (R-NJ 5th) – Newton
Gerlach, Jim (R-PA 6th) – Glenmoore
Gingrey, Phil (R-GA 11th) – Marietta, Rome, Carrollton
Grijalva, Raul (D-AZ 7th) – Tucson
Harris, Katherine (R-FL 13th) – Sarasota, Bradenton
Hensarling, Jeb (R-TX 5th) – Dallas, Athens
Janklow, William (R-SD At-Large)
King, Steve (R-IA 5th) – Storm Lake, Sioux City
Kline, John (R-MN 2nd) – Burnsville
Majette, Denise (D-GA 4th) – Decatur
Marshall, Jim (D-GA 3rd) – Macon
McCotter, Thaddeus (R-MI 11th) – Livonia
Meek, Kendrick (D-FL 17th) – Miami
Michaud, Michael (D-ME 2nd) – Bangor, Lewiston, Presque Isle
Miller, Brad (D-NC 13th) – Raleigh
Miller, Candice (R-MI 10th) – Shelby Township
Murphy, Tim (R-PA 18th) – Pittsburgh
Musgrave, Marilyn (R-CO 4th) – Loveland, Greeley, Sterling, Las Animas
Neugebauer, Randy (R-TX 19th) Lubbock, Odessa
Nunes, Devin (R-CA 21st) – Visalia, Clovis
Pearce, Steve (R-NM 2nd ) – Las Cruces, Roswell
Porter, Jon (R-NV 3rd) – Henderson
Renzi, Rick (R-AZ 1st) – Show Low
Rogers, Mike (R-AL 3rd) – Anniston, Opelika, Montgomery
Ruppersberger, Dutch (D-MD 2nd) – Timonium
Ryan, Timothy (D-OH 17th) – Youngstown
Sanchez, Linda (D-CA 39th) – Lakewood
Scott, David (D-GA 13th) – Jonesboro
Turner, Michael (R-OH 3rd) – Dayton, Wilmington
Van Hollen, Chris (D-MD 8th) – Rockville

END.