Floridians lead push to halt outreach to Cuba
Lawmakers turn to power of purse to limit trade, travel
WASHINGTON — South Floridians in Congress are leading a legislative attack on President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba, hoping to shut down new flights and ferries and further restrict the way American dollars can be spent on the island.
Unable to reverse the president’s policy, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart are using the power of the purse to try to squeeze it at every turn.
But a counter-attack also is gathering momentum, as 45 senators push to repeal the ban on American travel to Cuba and many in Congress try to uproot the U.S.
trade embargo.
These conflicting forces are heading for a confrontation this summer that could set the course of Cuba policy for a generation. The clash could lead to a stalemate, leaving Obama’s executive actions in place at least until a new president takes charge in January 2017.
Florida stands to benefit the most from increased trade and commerce with the island 90 miles away, but is most resistant to doing business in a constricted economy under its communist government.
Attempts to block Obama’s policy keep coming despite polls and other signs that most Americans — including most Cuban Americans in South Florida — favor unfettered travel and spending in Cuba.
Presidential candidates Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush have set the tone by trying to toughen the embargo of five decades, while Obama is trying to ease it.
“Because Gov. Bush and Sen. Rubio have been very outspoken in criticizing the president’s initiative, it makes it difficult for rankand-file Republicans to challenge these party leaders on that [Cuba] issue,” said Philip Brenner, a Cuba expert and professor of international relations at American University in Washington. “They may indeed follow someone like Diaz-Balart to support restrictive amendments.”
Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, is using his position on the House Appropriations Committee to inject into must-pass spending bills provisions that would sever closer ties to Cuba.
If those measures are approved by the Senate, the president may be forced to accept the limitations or ve- to entire bills. The Supreme Court has ruled that presidents do not have the Constitutional authority to make a “line-item veto” — rejecting one portion of a bill while signing the rest of it into law.
The House voted 247 to 176 to include in a massive transportation bill a provision that bars the use of property confiscated by the Cuban government to serve U.S. flights or ferries to Cuba.
The House also voted 273 to 153 to retain in a bill to fund the Commerce Department a provision that would block U.S. trade if it passes through Cuban military and intelligence leaders or their families.
And the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill to fund the Treasury Department that includes a provision blocking financial transactions with Cuba’s military and intelligence services. That bill also would prohibit travel to Cuba for educational purposes unless it involves academic study in pursuit of a degree.
Because the Cuban government controls most of the property and marketplace of Cuba, including seaports and airports, these restrictions would effectively ground new forms of travel, stymie trade and undermine Obama’s “people-to-people” engagement with the island.
“The expansion of regularly scheduled flights to Cuba is an obvious attempt to circumvent the tourism ban,” Diaz-Balart said. “Similarly, allowing cruises to dock in Cuba would violate both the spirit and the letter of U.S. law.”
Diaz-Balart and fellow Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen say the provisions are necessary to prevent American dollars from propping up the Castro regime.
“Congress cannot look away as the president implements policies that channel dollars to an anti- American dictatorship,” Diaz-Balart said.
The House also will consider a bill to fund the State Department that would bar spending for a U.S. embassy in Havana if talks between the two countries lead to normal diplomatic relations.
Rubio has warned Secretary of State John Kerry that he will try to block Senate confirmation of any nominee for ambassador until Cuba makes “substantive progress” on political reforms and human rights, agrees to return fugitives wanted in the United States and settles claims by Americans whose property was seized after the 1959 revolution.
Rubio acknowledges that Obama could work around this fiscal restriction by simply changing the sign on the door of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to call it an embassy. And the head of the Interests Section could fill an ambassadorial role as a charge d’affaires without Senate confirmation.
The House-passed restrictions on trade and travel are a bigger potential impediment. Defenders of Obama’s policy are counting on the Senate to reject them.
Nearly half the Senate have signed on to a bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would lift the travel ban.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — who want to sell more products to Cuba — introduced a bill this month to allow trade of goods and services, while still banning U.S. aid or government-backed credit.
If neither side of the congressional debate prevails, Obama’s policy will continue.
Diaz-Balart and other critics are trying to snarl it while hoping that Bush or Rubio will win next year’s presidential election and revert to a policy of isolating and punishing Cuba.
“In the end, these are symbolistic gestures,” Brenner said. “I don’t think Congress will take it very far.”