Vote would gut restrictions

 BY TIM JOHNSON

 WASHINGTON -- Heeding calls to ``try something different'' in U.S. policy toward Cuba, the House approved a measure Wednesday that would block the White House from enforcing restrictions on travel to Cuba.

 For the second consecutive year, the House voted to gut the four-decade-old travel restrictions by withholding money for their enforcement. But the legislators turned back a proposal by a liberal New York Democrat, Charles Rangel, to block President Bush from enforcing the economic embargo on Cuba.

 Wednesday's 240-186 vote on the travel restrictions was nearly identical to the total a year ago, a provision that was eventually derailed by the House Republican
 leadership. The measure now goes to the Senate.

 Proponents suggested that a wave of U.S. tourists could bring change to the island and confront Cuban President Fidel Castro with a major political challenge. Opponents said up to $5 billion in projected U.S. tourist dollars would only fill the coffers of the Castro government, without aiding ordinary Cubans.

 `SOMETHING DIFFERENT'

 ``For 42 years, we tried to change the government of Cuba, and we have failed,'' said Rep. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican. ``It is time for us to try something different that may actually work.''

 Proponents included an odd mix of conservative Republicans, like bill sponsor Jeff Flake of Arizona, who argued for unfettered free trade, to liberal Democrats, who said U.S. citizens should be allowed to travel anywhere in the world. ``What we've done is erect our own Berlin Wall, preventing free travel of American citizens,'' said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., who called for ``an invasion'' of U.S. travelers to the island. ``Let the college kids on spring break be the vanguard of this invasion.''

 Opponents bitterly decried any effort to weaken pressure on the Castro government.

 ``Allowing travel to Cuba is a terrible mistake,'' said Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the majority whip. ``The tyrant is teetering on the brink of an abyss. Why in the world would we reach out now and draw his evil, abusive regime back to safety? Let it fall!''

 PROSPECTS UNCLEAR

 Prospects for the measure, which was an amendment on a $30 billion appropriation bill for the Treasury Department, are unclear. While Democrats now control the
 Senate, passage there is uncertain. And the Bush administration signaled utter opposition to changing the travel restrictions -- though whether the president would veto an entire appropriation bill to keep them in place remains to be seen.

 ``The administration would strongly oppose any amendment that weakens sanctions against the Castro regime,'' the White House told legislators in a statement before the vote.

 While average U.S. citizens are not prohibited from traveling to Cuba, they are banned from spending U.S. dollars there -- making tourist trips there virtually impossible. Some U.S. citizens -- including journalists, academics, clerics and Cuban Americans with relatives on the island -- are exempted from the ban.

                                    © 2001