Bipartisan bill to end ban on U.S. travel to Cuba introduced in Congress

Trying to seize the momentum to normalize relations with Cuba, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington intend to introduce legislation next week to remove the travel ban on Cuba that has been in place for more than 50 years.

On Monday, Congressman Mark Sanford (R- South Carolina) and Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) will introduce the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015.” It is the companion bill to its Senate counterpart on Thursday by Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).

Backers say passing the legislation is crucial, because President Obama’s lifting of the travel ban might last only for the remaining 23 months of his Presidency.

“Unless there is an overwhelming threat to national security, every United States citizen has the constitutional right to free travel as they, not the federal government, see fit. In this regard, I believe this issue is important in the unending fight to protect and defend American liberties too often threatened by federal power,” Sanford said.

Rep. McGovern adds, “The travel ban has long been among the worst of a misguided set of Cuba policies. The notion that the United States government can tell law-abiding, tax-paying citizens where they can and cannot travel is deeply offensive to our principles and our heritage.”

Although the rhetoric is impressive, this is not the first time members of Congress have proposed ending the travel ban on the communist island. In 2002, the House voted 262 to 167 to end the travel ban and allow the sale of American goods to Cuba.

Cuban affairs activist Al Fox has been working for years to normalize relations with Cuba, including ending the travel ban. He was skeptical that this latest proposal would pass the current Congress.

“Today I don’t think this bill is going to pass in the next year. Boehner ain’t going to call that bill up,” he said, referring to the Speaker of the House. “Boehner is violently opposed to it.”

He said he hoped he was proven wrong. “Barack Obama has done something very significant,” he acknowledges, but says the main issue as far as he is concerned is to have Cuba removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

Secretary of State John Kerry said last month that on President Obama’s request, he has asked officials in the State Dept. to initiate a review of Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

The U.S. currently lists Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran on its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.