• Submitted by: manso
• United States
• Politics and Government
• 08 / 01 / 2010

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The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment that would slightly ease U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba.

The amendment, authored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), is attached to the FY2011 Financial Services appropriations bill, which is now up for debate and a floor vote in the Senate.

The amendment would allow Cuba to pay U.S. suppliers once goods arrive on the island. In 2005, the Bush Administration redefined a ‘cash in advance’ regulation of the 2000 law that authorized agricultural sales to Cuba, forcing Cuba to pay U.S. suppliers in cash when agricultural goods still are in U.S. ports.

“Requiring cash in advance of shipping rather than delivery is clearly intended to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for American farmers to sell their products to Cuba, which is the exact opposite of what Congress intended when it lifted the more than 40-year-old embargo on food and medicine sales to Cuba,” Dorgan said in a press release.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/