Release: Is Pres. Obama Going to Act Unilaterally on Cuba?

Statement

17 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have penned a letter to President Obama asking him to reaffirm his commitment to maintaining the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

The timing cannot be a coincidence.

In January, the President already began to roll back the policy, allowing for "(1) purposeful travel; (2) non-family remittances; and (3) U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba."

These members of Congress believe the President might be about to take another step toward legitimizing the Castro regime.

Suzanne Scholte, human rights advocate and Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia's 11th district, released the following statement:

I congratulate Gerry Connolly on signing this letter and taking a bipartisan step that I would have also taken as a member of Congress. There are issues greater than our campaign. This is one of them.

The difference between Gerry Connolly and me is that I would have been standing against abusive executive action for the last five years, not just for this issue. The President has already signed dozens of executive orders that many constitutional law professors--even those who usually agree with him--have deemed illegal.

If he uses an executive order to normalize relations with Cuba, he will be legitimizing one of the most corrupt regimes in history. Their egregious human rights record cannot be ignored, and a change in policy would only validate their awful actions.

Because the President's Party and Gerry Connolly have been unwilling to stand up against the President's expansive executive orders, they have enabled the President to act alone on Cuba.

Unlike Cuba, we live in a system with checks and balances on our elected leaders, and our President needs to not only affirm his support for Cuban freedom, he needs to reaffirm his support for the Constitution.

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