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Summary

Restrictions on travel to Cuba have been a key and often contentious component in U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government of Fidel Castro for much of the past 40 years. Over time, there have been numerous changes to the restrictions, and for five years, from 1977 until 1982, there were no restrictions on travel to Cuba. Under the Bush Administration, enforcement of U.S. restrictions on Cuba travel has increased, and restrictions on travel and on private remittances to Cuba have been tightened. In March 2003, the Administration eliminated travel for people-to-people educational exchanges unrelated to academic coursework. In June 2004, the Administration further restricted family and educational travel, eliminated the category of fully-hosted travel, and restricted remittances so that they could only be sent to the remitter's immediate family. In 2005, the Administration further restricted religious travel to Cuba by changing licensing guidelines for such travel. In the second session of the 109th Congress, the House rejected two amendments to the FY2007 Transportation/Treasury appropriation bill, H.R. 5576, on June 14, 2006, that would have eased Cuba travel restrictions: H.Amdt 1050 (Rangel) would have eased overall Cuba embargo restrictions, and H.Amdt. 1051 (Lee) would have eased educational travel restrictions. On June 22, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2007 Agriculture appropriations bill, H.R. 5384 (S.Rept. 109-266), which contains a provision (Section 755) liberalizing travel to Cuba related to the sale of agricultural and medical goods. Several other legislative initiatives have been introduced in the 109th Congress that would ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba. Two bills -- S. 894 (Enzi) and H.R. 1814 (Flake) -- would specifically lift overall restrictions on travel to Cuba. H.R. 2617 (Davis) would prohibit any additional restrictions on per diem allowances, family visits to Cuba, remittances, and accompanied baggage beyond those that were in effect on June 15, 2004. H.R. 3064 (Lee) would prohibit the use of funds available to the Department of the Treasury to implement regulations from June 2004 that tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba for educational activities. H.Con.Res. 206 (Serrano), introduced in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis, would express the sense of Congress that the President should suspend restrictions on remittances, gift parcels, and family travel. Two additional bills -- H.R. 208 (Serrano) and H.R. 579 (Paul) -- would lift the overall embargo, including restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba. Finally, two identical bills dealing with easing restrictions on exporting agricultural commodities to Cuba -- H.R. 719 (Moran of Kansas) and S. 328 (Craig) -- include provisions for a general license for travel related to the marketing and sale of agricultural products. Proposed amendments -- S.Amdt. 281 (Baucus) and S.Amdt. 282 (Craig) -- to S. 600 would add the language of S. 328, with a provision on travel transactions for the marketing and sale of agricultural products. This report will be updated to reflect major developments. For additional information, see CRS Report RL32730, Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress, by Mark P. Sullivan.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.5576
• H.R.5384
• S.894
• H.R.1814
• H.R.2617
• H.R.3064
• H.R.208
• H.R.579
• H.R.719
• S.328
• S.600
• S.206

Related Reports:
• RL31139

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