Hear, hear, Congress

House Representative Howard Berman (D-California) announced last week that the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which he is chair, will hold an open hearing at 10 AM on November 18 on the topic “Is It Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?“

The 47-member Committee includes representatives that are strongly in favor of ending the ban—Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts), Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) and Barbara Lee (D-California)—as well as some that have been among the ban’s most outspoken proponents, e.g. ranking Republican member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Delahunt was the House member that introduced legislation to eliminate the travel ban back in February, and has recently made public statements asserting his confidence that the bill will garner enough votes to pass this year. Ros-Lehtinen, a fervent anti-Castro Cuban American, has led the movement in favor of maintaining current policy without change.

On this issue, Ros-Lehtinen has been recently joined by at least 53 Democrats in the House apparently on her side—a side that is traditionally associated with Republicans. These 53 representatives added their signatures to an open letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) that urged House leadership to maintain the current U.S. policy on Cuba. The letter argues, “Any legislation that would seek to ease or lift sanctions… would send a devastating message to Cuba’s opposition movement and legitimize an ailing dictatorship.”

Considering the number of Democratic signatures on this letter, opponents of the legislation to end the travel ban argue that they are the ones with the numbers in their favor. With 218 votes needed to pass the bill and 258 Democrats in the House, 53 Democrats on the side of Ros-Lehtinen mean that Democrats cannot pass the bill alone. Republicans will have to come out in higher numbers than they ever have before in favor of changing the policy.