October 30, 2003

Dear Cuba Policy Advocates:

Congratulations again on the victory in the Senate last week. As you probably could tell, the timing of this action in the Senate caught everyone in Washington off guard, including staffers from some of the offices supporting the amendment! But they were ready, and the opposition was not!

In order to push our victory forward to the President's desk, we have several actions that are very important for you to take to help make this happen. Scroll down to see the actions.

The Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill, with the Cuba travel amendment, is going into conference committee (to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill) in the few days. The Cuba amendment will face stiff opposition from the Republican leadership. Based on quotes in the media over the last week, these leaders are gearing up to delete the Cuba travel provision in conference and keep it from arriving at the President’s desk. The conference committee should obey congressional rules and follow the will of the majorities in the Senate and House who have voted to lift the travel ban.

We must continue the pressure on them to make sure the Cuban amendment is not removed. It’s a subversion of democracy to strip out parts of bills behind closed doors; more importantly, if the amendments are identical, which the Cuba travel provisions are, pulling out the amendments is against the rules! Please take time in the next few days to take the following actions:

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. To see the members of the conference committee and a suggested message click here. If your member of Congress isn't on this list, please solicit any friends or family who live in these districts/states to contact Congress.

ACTION: Call, email, or fax the senators who voted for the travel amendment, but haven’t yet co-sponsored the bill (S 950) that would end all travel restrictions for good. The Senate Cuba Working Group has specifically asked for this action from us. The more co-sponsors this bill has in the next few days, the better chances are that the conference committee will respect the votes in favor of travel. To see which senators fit this category and a sample email or fax, go to click here . Again, if your senator isn't on the list, please forward this message on to family and friends who live in these states.

ACTION: If you only have a moment, by using CubaCentral.com’s action center you can send a message to our most important allies working on this bill, Representatives John Olver and David Obey. We do encourage you to take further action by contacting the conference committee members and encouraging senators to co-sponsor S-950. CubaCentral.com writes: “We need your help RIGHT NOW to ensure that Tom DeLay and his cronies aren’t allowed to once again thwart the will of the Congress behind closed doors! Please go to http://action.ciponline.org/action/ and take action on Cuba travel right now.”

Thanks for taking these actions. We’ll be back in touch as things move along here in Washington. This is an exciting time for Cuba travel; it’s the closest we’ve come to ending the restrictions yet. Let’s take it all the way to the President’s desk.