(See "Food and Medical Exports" below.) Economic Conditions(1)

With the cutoff of assistance from the former Soviet Union, Cuba experienced severeeconomic deterioration from 1989-1993, although there has been some improvement since 1994. Political Conditions

Although Cuba has undertaken some limited economic reforms, politically the countryremains a hard-line Communist state. (10) 
Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the islandnation through comprehensive economic sanctions. The principal tool of U.S. policy remainscomprehensive sanctions, which were made stronger with the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992and with the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 ( P.L. 104-114 ), often referredto as the Helms/Burton legislation. Bush Administration Policy. On May 20, 2002, President Bush announced a new initiative on Cuba that includes fourmeasures designed to reach out to the Cuban people: 1) facilitating humanitarian assistance to theCuban people by U.S. religious and other non-governmental organization (NGOs); 2) providingdirect assistance to the Cuban people through NGOs; 3) calling for the resumption of direct mailservice to and from Cuba (12) ; and 4) establishing scholarships in the United States for Cubanstudents and professional involved in building civil institutions and for family members of politicalprisoners. (14) 

	Issues in U.S.-Cuban Relations

		Overall Direction of U.S. Policy

Over the years, although U.S. policymakers have agreed on the overall objective of U.S.policy toward Cuba -- to help bring democracy and respect for human rights to the island -- therehave been several schools of thought about how to achieve that objective. Some advocate a policyof keeping maximum pressure on the Cuban government until reforms are enacted, while continuingcurrent U.S. efforts to support the Cuban people. Others argue for an approach, sometimes referredto as constructive engagement, that would lift some U.S. sanctions that they believe are hurting theCuban people, and move toward engaging Cuba in dialogue. Legislative initiativesintroduced in the 107th Congress reflected divergent views on the direction of U.S. policy towardCuba (whether sanctions should be eased or intensified) and also covered a range of issues includinghuman rights, drug interdiction cooperation, and broadcasting to Cuba. (For a complete listing, see"Legislative Initiatives in the 107th Congress" toward the end of this report.) 2590 , the FY2002 Treasury Department appropriations bill. In the second session of the 107th Congress, the Senate version of the 2002 "Farm Bill," H.R. 5120 , the House approved three amendments on Cuba sanctions that wouldprohibit funds in the bill from being used to enforce regulations on travel, remittances, and U.S.agricultural sales to Cuba; the House subsequently approved H.R. The Senate version of the bill, S. 2740 , as reportedout of committee, included a provision that would prohibit funds from being used to enforceTreasury Department regulations on travel to Cuba. Final action on the FY2003 TreasuryDepartment appropriations measure was not completed before the end of the 107th Congress. Numerous other initiatives introduced in the 107th Congresswould have eased U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba, but action was not taken on these bills:
H.R. 106-553 ),it provided $22.095 million for radio and television broadcasting to Cuba.
Cuba remains a hard-line Communist state, with a poor record on human rights. Fidel Castrohas ruled since he led the Cuban Revolution, ousting the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batistafrom power in 1959. With the cutoff of assistance from the former Soviet Union, Cuba experiencedsevere economic deterioration from 1989 to 1993. There has been some improvement since 1994as Cuba has implemented limited reforms.
Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the islandnation through comprehensive economic sanctions. The Bush Administration has essentiallycontinued this policy. The principal tool of policy remains comprehensive sanctions, which weremade stronger with the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) in 1992 and the Cuban Liberty andDemocratic Solidarity Act in 1996, often referred to as the Helms/Burton legislation. Anothercomponent of U.S. policy consists of support measures for the Cuban people, including privatehumanitarian donations and U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. In May 2002,President Bush announced a new initiative that includes several measures designed to reach out tothe Cuban people.
There appears to be broad agreement on the overall objective of U.S. policy toward Cuba --to help bring democracy and respect for human rights to the island. But there are several schools ofthought on how to achieve that objective. Some advocate a policy of keeping maximum pressureon the Cuban government until reforms are enacted, while continuing current U.S. efforts to supportthe Cuban people. Others argue for an approach, sometimes referred to as constructive engagement,that would lift some U.S. sanctions that they believe are hurting the Cuban people, and move towardengaging Cuba in dialogue. Still others call for a swift normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations bylifting the U.S. embargo. Policy debate in the past several years has focused on whether to maintainU.S. restrictions on food and medical exports as well as on travel to Cuba.
Legislative initiatives introduced in the 107th Congress reflected these divergent views on thedirection of U.S. policy toward Cuba and also covered a range of issues including human rights, foodand medical exports, travel restrictions, drug interdiction cooperation, and broadcasting to Cuba.Many of these will likely be introduced in the 108th Congress. In the second session of the 107thCongress, the House version of the FY2003 Treasury Department appropriations bill, H.R. 5120 , included three Cuba provisions that would have eased restrictions on travel,remittances, and U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba; the Senate version of the bill, S. 2740 ,as reported out of committee, would have eased restrictions on travel to Cuba. Final action on themeasure was not completed before the end of the 107th Congress; the 108th Congress will face earlyaction on these and other appropriations measures with Cuba provisions.
This report will not be updated. It reflects legislative action through the end of the 107thCongress.