Senate Ag Committee Wants U.S. Policy Change For Cuba

A new report, written by staffers for Republican members of the Senate Ag Committee, is calling for lifting the Bush administration restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, reinstituting formal bilateral cooperation on drug interdiction and migration, and allowing Cuba to buy U.S. agricultural products on credit, Farm Progress reports.

The report stops short of proposing the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba be lifted. The Republican call for review runs parallel with Obama administration statements. An administration official said it is not unreasonable to expect that Obama would ease constraints on Cuba before he attends the mid-April Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. U.S. trading partners such as Latin America and Europe maintain diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba.

The views of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), were appended to the report. “The debate is important because it has implications for security interests in the Straits of Florida, broader U.S.-Latin American relations and global perceptions of U.S. foreign policy.”