Bills
| 3.23.22

Should People in the U.S. be Able to Travel to Cuba? (H.R. 664)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 664?

(Updated November 21, 2017)

This bill would prohibit the President from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by any U.S. citizens or legal residents. It would end the longstanding travel ban on U.S. citizens going to or from Cuba that prevents spending U.S. currency in Cuba.


This would include travel-related transactions such as baggage fees, living expenses, travel arrangements, voyage-related fees, and normal banking transactions. Transporting items other personal baggage would remain prohibited.


All of these provisions would be prohibited from restricting presidential authority during a state of war between the U.S. and Cuba, or imminent danger to the public health and safety of U.S. travelers. It also would prohibit this legislation from prohibiting the President from authorizing U.S. importation of personal consumption goods that were purchased in Cuba.

Argument in favor

The Cold War is over. The President has already endorsed rekindling the U.S./Cuba relationship, and easing antiquated restrictions on travel will strengthen diplomacy efforts on both sides.

Argument opposed

Cuba is still a repressive dictatorship and allowing Americans to travel there only lends legitimacy to the Cuban regime. Easing the travel ban could give the Castro family an chance to reassert themselves.

Impact

U.S. citizens who would like to travel to Cuba, U.S. travel agencies, Cuban commerce.

Cost of H.R. 664

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth:

Following the Cuban Revolution that saw Fidel Castro establish a communist regime in Cuba, relations between the U.S. and Cuba have been tense. In 1960, two years after Castro’s revolution succeeded, the U.S. banned all exports into Cuba aside from food and medicine. The failed Bay of Pigs operation and the Cuban Missile Crisis over the next two years exacerbated the tensions, which led to the enactment of a ban on all imports from Cuba.


While the U.S. never explicitly banned travel to and from Cuba as part of its embargo — but it did create rules that made it essentially impossible to travel into Cuba without violating them. The Obama administration had previously eased regulations on Cuban-Americans traveling to-and-from Cuba. The travel restrictions did not prevent U.S. citizens from traveling to another country and going to Cuba from there, and about 98,000 Americans did just that in 2012 despite technically being in violation of the law.


Many have argued that Cuba’s record on human rights and its status as a totalitarian dictatorship should preclude the U.S. from easing restrictions on Cuba in exchange for democratic elections, releasing political prisoners, among other conditions. According to Freedom House’s index of Freedom in the World, globally Cuba has some of the worst political rights.


Media:

Sponsoring Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) Press Release

International Business Times

Vox

Reuters


(Photo Credit: Flickr user flippinyank)