Senators Dorgan And Enzi Say Senate Has Votes To Lift Cuba Travel Ban

Press Release

U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) said today they believe there are enough votes in the Senate to pass legislation lifting the travel ban that now prevents US citizens from traveling to Cuba.

In the wake of yesterday's vote by the House Agriculture Committee in favor of eliminating the travel ban to Cuba, Dorgan and Enzi, the sponsors of the Senate legislation, say that they have the votes to pass their bill. There are 40 sponsors for the Senate bill that will eliminate the travel ban. The two senators intend to push that bill in the remaining weeks of the legislative session.

"It makes no sense to punish the American people by restricting their right travel simply because our country is trying to punish the Cuban government," said U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, D-ND.

"Decades of the same policy will get you the same result. We're hopefully about to change that and open up a new world for the people of Cuba," said U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. "One of our most valuable exports is the export of ideas and Cuba is a hungry market."

Nearly a decade ago, Dorgan wrote the law passed by the Congress that opened up agricultural sales to Cuba. Actions taken by the previous Administration to further restrict those sales also need to be overturned, Dorgan said, and he is working to make that happen as well.

"The nearly 50-year embargo and travel ban restricting Americans' right to travel to Cuba has been a failure," Dorgan said. "The quickest way to bring democracy to Cuba is through travel and trade. Just as has been our policy with China, Vietnam and other communist countries, we should allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba."

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