Lawmakers still divided over Cuba trade

Lawmakers still divided over Cuba trade
Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 4:21 PM

by Ken Anderson and Tom Steever

Legislation that would open the door to more agricultural exports to
Cuba is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate this week.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, a long-time advocate of
more open trade with Cuba, is sponsoring the bill. Several other
Democratic Senators will be co-sponsors, including Senate Agriculture
Committee Chairman Tom Harkin.

Similar support, however, is not likely from Iowa GOP Senator Charles
Grassley, who'd like to see fundamental changes in Cuba.

"What I'm after is the release of political prisoners in Cuba and free
elections," Grassley said Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Grassley, speaking to reporters in a conference call, says that the
Castros have maintained a political climate that has prevented the Cuban
people from having a decent standard of living. He'd like to see that
change before the U.S. loosens its trade sanctions against Cuba.

"We can talk about helping (the Cubans) through trade, but it isn't
going to do any good until we get the political situation and the
economic situation straightened out so that people aren't deprived,"
said Grassley.

Grassley doesn't believe that open trade will shift Cuban policies
because he says the country's trade relations with other nations has
done nothing to change the attitude of the Cuban government.

A broad base of U.S. agriculture interests would like to see greater
trade opportunities with the island 90 miles off the Florida Coast. U.S.
trade with Cuba has not been normal since the Kennedy Administration.

Brownfield Network: Lawmakers still divided over Cuba trade (6 May 2009)

http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=12A6B3D3-5056-B82A-D0FDBD68E2B3E017