A bipartisan group of senators on Monday introduced a bill that would end the commercial blockade on Cuba while maintaining other U.S. laws that impose human rights-based restrictions on the island nation.
The bill, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), showcases political divisions over a blockade that’s been in place more than six decades.
An array of powerful Democrats and Republicans oppose leniency toward the Cuban regime, to say nothing of a radical policy shift such as lifting the trade embargo.
But some Republicans see Cuba as an untapped market of 11 million people a stone’s throw from Florida, and some Democrats see the embargo as a Cold War-era anachronism.
“I have long pushed to reform our relationship with Cuba, which for decades has been defined by conflicts of the past instead of looking toward the future,” Klobuchar said in a statement.
“By ending the trade embargo with Cuba once and for all, our bipartisan legislation will turn the page on the failed policy of isolation while creating a new export market and generating economic opportunities for American businesses,” she added.
It’s no coincidence that both Republican co-sponsors are from Kansas, a major agricultural state.
“The unilateral trade embargo on Cuba blocks our own farmers, ranchers and manufacturers from selling into a market only 90 miles from our shoreline, while foreign competitors benefit at our expense,” Moran said.
“I’m proud to sign onto the Freedom to Export to Cuba Act. It’s important for the United States to boost our economic opportunities and increase market access for American-made goods,” said Marshall.
“This legislation will expand market opportunities for U.S. producers by allowing them to compete on a level playing field with other countries. It is time to amend our own laws to give U.S. producers fair access to market to consumers in Cuba,” Moran said.
While the economic argument may sway some Republicans from the plains states, any easing of sanctions on the communist regime is an uphill battle.
According to the bill’s proponents, it would maintain restrictions tied to the Cuban government’s human rights record and to its takeover of private property following the 1959 revolution.
if the bill is picked up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), it will face two powerful Cuba hawks on either side of the aisle in Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and panel Chairman Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.).
“It is long past time for us to normalize relations with Cuba,” Warren said. “This legislation takes important steps to remove barriers for U.S. trade and relations between our two countries and moves us in the right direction by increasing economic opportunities for Americans and the Cuban people.”
