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Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Jeff Flake explains why Americans should be free to travel to Cuba
In "Congressional bill would end ban on travel to Cuba," The Miami Herald reports:
A bipartisan bill calling for an end to the 46-year-old ban on travel to Cuba was introduced in Congress by a group of representatives led by William Delahunt of Massachusetts.
The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, introduced Feb. 4 and referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, prohibits the U.S. president from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by U.S. residents, except in times of war between the two countries or of imminent danger to public health or the safety of U.S. travelers.
During his campaign, President Barack Obama announced that he would roll back the restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed by the Bush administration.
Under that policy, Cuban Americans can send up to $300 in cash every three months and are allowed to visit the island once every three years, although they can send gift packages of food, medicine and other items. Bush also tightened the restrictions on visits by academics, students and religious groups.
Americans with no family in Cuba generally cannot visit the island, and the Obama announcement remained unclear as to whether the easing of travel restrictions will apply to them.
The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act would then go further than Obama's campaign promise by explicitly empowering U.S. citizens and legal residents to visit the island at will.
In addition to Delahunt, other sponsors of the bill include representatives Jeff Flakes[sic],R-Ariz.; Rosa Delauro, D-Conn.; Jo-Ann Emerson, R-Mo.; James McGovern, D-Mass.; Jim Moran, R-Kansas; Donna Edwards, D-Md.; Ron Paul, R-Texas; and Sam Farr, D-Calif.
Here's one of the bill's co-sponsors, Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, speaking last year to reason.tv about why he thinks US-Cuba relations have got to change:
More videos of Jeff Flake, just plain ol' makin' sense, here, here, and here.
Posted by Kalim Kassam on February 10, 2009 in U.S. politics | Permalink
Comments
Why is there more American news on this blog than Canadian news? Is this blog an outpost of the American libertarian movement or a home of the Canadian libertarian movement? I tend to think the former.
Ron Paul, Jeff Flake, Thomas Woods, Obama -- blah, blah, blah. Why don't I just go to Reason or Lew Rockwell or Cato. We don't need more libertarian analysis of the U.S. We need trailblazing libertarian analysis (as opposed to the same old conservative analysis) of Canada... Unless you're all just whoring yourselves for jobs in the U.S. libertarian movement, stop drowning us with American content. If the former, let us know!
Think for yourselves! Stop piggy-backing on the Yanks!
Posted by: Robert Seymour | 2009-02-10 4:24:03 PM
RS North America is just full of free-flowing comment.
Posted by: dewp | 2009-02-10 5:49:58 PM
A broken clock is right at least once or twice a day. Obama just keeps impressing us with his s#$% statism and collectivist delusions and pipedreams. Nice to hear they're capable of surprising us once in a while.
Posted by: Cid the cidious | 2009-02-11 9:46:37 AM
When communist China is one of their favourite trading partners, it is hard to see the hysteria about Cuba.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-02-11 1:23:02 PM
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