• Submitted by: manso
• Editorial Articles
• 11 / 21 / 2010

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It has been reported in the Congressional Quarterly that Rep. Berman will not bring the travel bill for mark-up during the lame-duck session. How should this be interpreted? Several options:

1) The inevitable result of the mid-term election results and Rep.Ros-Lehtinen's anticipated position as chair. (Too few committee members will work through the lame duck session--the losers are moving out of offices as is the staff.)

2) Berman never had sufficient support, as the Hill reported at the time of the announcement, and "postponement" of the mark-up was just a face-saving tactic because the election results were predictable.

3) Al Fox was right. We have been played and there was never a serious intention to end travel restrictions or any possibility of White House support.

The test of how much Berman and the Democratic leadership really care about restoring the freedom to travel and improving relations with Cuba is what they do individually and collectively to encourage the White House to move quickly and boldly on regulatory reform.

Can the approximately 250 Representatives and Senators who cosponsored travel legislation be encouraged by our colleagues in Washington who have so productively worked with them to sign a letter to the President supporting bold action on non-tourist travel?

Can grass roots networks be engaged in helping that happen by using our change.org letter and making calls to staff they already know in Congressional offices?

http://www.change.org/fund_for_reconciliation_development/petitions/view/ask_con\congress_to_support_presidential_action_on_cuba_travel

LAWG is preparing a change.org campaign to directly address the President which is also very important. Our letter with the same goal has been sent to the White House by 568 persons and continues to grow.

http://www.change.org/fund_for_reconciliation_development/petitions/view/mr_pres\ident_be_bold_on_people_to_people_travel_to_cuba

Al Fox and Tony Martinez see in this situation confirmation that we will never win unless we get serious politically and create an anti-embargo PAC. They have called a meeting in Tampa for December 10-11 to consider what should happen now.

You can reach Al at [email protected]://www.cubastandard.com/2010/11/17/activists-to-ponder-post-election-cuba-st\rategies-in-tampa/

As I wrote in the Havana Note, the next two years require a refocus on the executive branch which has been neglected at great cost http://thehavananote.com/2010/11/time_strategic_reset

You may also be interested in my post on the strikingly parallel Sixth Party Congresses in Cuba and Vietnam and the challenge posed to the Obama Administration to learn from history

http://thehavananote.com/2010/11/sixth_party_congresses_vietnam_and_cuba at 7:25 PM Friday, November 19, 2010

From Congressional Quarterly:

Cuba Travel Bill Won't Get Markup in House

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will not mark up a bill this year to allow Americans to travel to Cuba, despite a pre-election statement from Chairman Howard L. Berman, D-Calif, that he was determined to move forward.

Asked Thursday if he still planned to hold a committee vote on the legislation (HR 4645), Berman shook his head and said "no," a decision confirmed by committee staff.

That puts a definitive end to what at one time were high hopes among advocates of engagement with Cuba for this Congress. And with Republicans winning the House in the November elections, and a supporter of the ban, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., expected to take over as chair of the committee next year,the prospects for progress in the new Congress are no better.

Americans are currently restricted from traveling to Cuba, except under very limited circumstances, as part of the nearly 50-year embargo put in place by President John F. Kennedy. President Obama's emphasis on engagement had earlier raised expectations among those seeking to end the embargo both on and off Capitol Hill.

House Agriculture Chairman Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., introduced a bill (HR 4645) and pushed it through his committee in the summer. In the Senate, Byron L.Dorgan, D-N.D., and Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., said they wanted a 2010 vote on a similar bill (S 428), claiming they had enough votes to pass it over a potential filibuster from opponents.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over Peterson's bill, and Berman sought to mark it up during the September work period. However, he ended up announcing Sept. 28 that he was "postponing consideration . . . until a time
when the committee will be able to hold the robust and uninterrupted debate this important issue deserves."

The next day, he told CQ that he remained determined to hold a committee vote during the lame duck session. Peterson predicted in the fall that if the legislation got through the Foreign Affairs Committee, it could win a House floor vote.

But with the Democratic leadership in both chambers focused on other, more pressing priorities for the lame-duck work period which has already gotten bogged down in partisan acrimony there appears to be little reason for the committee to move forward on the divisive legislation now.Copyright 2010 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.

John McAuliff
Executive Director
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
145 Palisade Street, Suite 401
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

914-231-6270

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/119030