House committee urged to lift Cuba restrictions

House committee urged to lift Cuba restrictions    Washington-based trade groups USA*Engage and the National Foreign Trade Council urge the House Foreign Affairs Committee to support a bill without amendments that lifts restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba and U.S. agricultural exports to the Caribbean country.
   The legislation, H.R. 4645, was marked up and favorably reported out of the House Agriculture Committee in June. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to mark up the bill on Wednesday.

Reinsch

   'H.R. 4645 represents a bipartisan effort to remove self-imposed and counterproductive barriers that prevent American citizens, farmers and businesses from traveling to Cuba and interacting with the Cuban people,” said Bill Reinsch, NFTC president and USA*Engage co-chairman, in a letter to the committee. “Nearly 140 trade associations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have expressed support for the bill.”
   NFTC and USA*Engage have been strong advocates of H.R. 4645. Should the bill come to the floor this year, NFTC and USA*Engage said they would include lawmakers' votes in their 2010 Congressional scorecard.