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REPUBLICAN LEADERS SAVE TRAVEL BAN AS ADMINISTRATION INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN ON TRIPS TO CUBA.

Article Excerpt
Congressional leaders killed an amendment that would have crippled the 40-year-old restrictions on travel to Cuba. An amendment, sponsored by a bipartisan coalition led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), would have deprived the Treasury Department of funds to enforce currency controls, which severely inhibit free travel to Cuba. Legislation passed in 1963 makes spending money in Cuba by anyone except travelers holding Treasury Department licenses a criminal offense subject to heavy fines and prison time.

The amendment to derail the restrictions was attached to a large spending bill to fund the Treasury and Transportation departments, increase congressional salaries, and subsidize Amtrak, among other things.

The Senate passed the amendment by a 59-36 vote Oct. 23. The House had passed an identical bill earlier, with a 227-188 vote. The House approved similar bills in the three previous years, but this is the first time the Senate has voted to undermine the travel restrictions. As an indication of how support for the travel ban has waned, in 1999, the Senate voted 55-43 to defeat an attempt to free up travel. Thirteen Republicans who supported the ban in 1999 voted against it this year.

With large majorities in both houses favoring the amendment, supporters reasoned that Republican congressional leaders would be dissuaded from stripping the amendment from the spending bill. Furthermore, since the language of the amendment was the same in...

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