Saying it stood no chance of victory, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.)
on Thursday evening withdrew a proposal to end the remaining restrictions on
travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba.
“Given the fact that the
speaker is working against this amendment, I see the handwriting on the wall so
I think it is best to withdraw,” Sanford said on the House floor.
The proposal was to have been offered as an amendment to the
House financial services appropriations bill, which was under debate Thursday
night on the House floor.
In withdrawing the amendment, Sanford thanked his five
co-sponsors as well as the approximately 130 other House members who had
supported the measure.
“This amendment ultimately was about American liberty,” he said,
arguing that the travel restrictions on Cuba haven’t worked to topple the
Castro regime.
Though Sanford’s amendment is off the table, language that would
roll back some of the steps the Obama administration has taken to open travel
to Cuba remained in the financial services bill that the House was expected to
vote on Thursday night.
The bill would eliminate the people-to-people travel
provision used by tour operators and the Fathom cruise line to run Cuba trips.
It would do so by tightening the definition of educational exchanges, one of
the 12 approved categories under which Americans can travel to Cuba and the
one that includes the people-to-people provision, to only include academic
programs.
But even if the House does pass the financial services bill, the
measures tightening travel to Cuba would face long odds of becoming law. Last
month, as part of a debate on its own financial services bill, the Senate
appropriations committee passed an amendment that would end the remaining
restrictions on travel to Cuba. The measure passed on a voice vote without
opposition.
Congressional observers expect that financial services
appropriations will ultimately be lumped into an omnibus spending
bill late in the year, which would maintain the status
quo on Cuba travel.
But even if Congress does pass legislation doing away with
people-to-people travel to Cuba, it would have to escape the veto pen of President
Obama, who has led efforts to reengage with Cuba.
As he withdrew his amendment, Sanford said that support for
opening up relations with Cuba is strengthening in the House. He noted that
earlier in the day the chamber’s leaders had struck a compromise with Rep. Rick
Crawford (R-Ark.), who had filed an amendment to open up agricultural trade with
Cuba.
“There is real momentum,” Sanford said.