US Lawmaker Sees Panel Voting to End Cuba Travel Ban

A congressional panel is poised to take the first step toward ending a decades-old US ban on travel to Cuba and removing other hurdles to food sales to the Caribbean island, a senior lawmaker said.

The bipartisan bill that Peterson helped craft with Representative Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, enjoys broad support from US farm and business groups that favor ending the nearly 50-year-old US embargo on Cuba.

The bill is expected to clear the committee and be sent to the full House, where it will face strong resistance from conservative lawmakers and Cuban-Americans who oppose any step to ease restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba.

President Barack Obama has taken some steps to improve relations with Havana, such as allowing unlimited family travel and remittances and greater telecommunications links. But Washington says the Cuban government has failed to reciprocate, making it politically difficult for the White House to move further in easing the Cold War-era embargo.

Cuban officials have encouraged recent US trade delegations visiting Havana to work for abolish the travel ban because the arrival of more American tourists would give the government more money to buy US goods.

Business groups mounted a lobbying effort on Tuesday to ensure Peterson would have enough votes in the committee to approve the bill without any changes.

Congress exempted farm sales from the long-standing US embargo on Cuba in 2000 so long as Havana paid for the goods in cash and money transfers were handled by a third-country bank.

The administration of former President George W. Bush angered many farm-state lawmakers by interpreting the cash payment rule in a narrow way as payment before shipment. Even so, US farm exports to Cuba reached a record $710 million in 2008, before dropping to $528 million in 2009.