Rider on funding bill passes, but GOP leaders likely to strip provision

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Legislation that would relax the ban on travel to Cuba appears headed for failure even though it passed both the House and Senate.

Lawmakers said Wednesday that Republican leaders probably would strip the provision from a transportation funding bill during House and Senate negotiations so
President Bush would not have to veto an important appropriations bill.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., a key negotiator who will help craft the final bill, wants the travel ban enforced and said, "Everyone is very aware of the veto threat."

Although not admitting defeat, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said, "A veto would create too much of a firestorm. They [Republican leaders] will find some other way
to finesse it."

The widely expected result is that when the House and Senate conferees meet to iron out differences in the two transportation bills, the Cuba provision will be quietly
dropped or changed to render it impossible to enact.

That prospect angered lawmakers who said Wednesday that using travel restrictions to isolate Cuba has not worked in 40 years, and that only more exposure to
Americans will help promote Democracy in the communist country. They also argued that deleting a provision passed in both chambers erodes the democratic
process.

"Congress clearly has spoken," said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. "If Republican leaders take this out, it really abrogates the independence of the first branch of
government."

It is an awkward issue for Mr. Bush and the GOP.

"If he vetoes this over the Cuba language, it makes him look like a captive of conservative Cuban-Americans in south Florida," said William Leogrande, a Cuba
scholar and dean of the Public Affairs School at American University. "And if the language is just dropped, it looks like the Republicans are manipulating the process
to ignore the majority will of both houses."

According to polls and recent votes in Congress, support has grown for more interaction with Cuba. In parts of the Midwest, there is increasing interest in
agricultural trade with Cuba.

But in Florida, a state that delivered the presidency to Mr. Bush in 2000 and is politically crucial for his re-election bid in 2004, conservative Cuban-Americans
staunchly oppose relaxing sanctions against Fidel Castro.

The legislation would prohibit the use of federal funds to enforce the travel ban.