H.Res. Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the island nation through comprehensive economic sanctions. Another component of U.S. policy, a so-called second track, consists of support measures for the Cuban people. This includes U.S. private humanitarian donations, medical exports to Cuba under the terms of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, U.S. government support for democracy-building efforts, and U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. Issues in U.S.-Cuban Relations

		Debate on the 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—there have been several schools of thought about how to achieve that objective. Some advocate a policy of keeping maximum pressure on the Cuban government until reforms are enacted, while continuing current U.S. efforts to support the Cuban people. Still others call for a swift normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations by lifting the U.S. embargo. Fidel Castro's July 31, 2006, announcement that he was ceding political power to his brother Raúl temporarily in order to recover from surgery could foster a re-examination of U.S. policy. (For additional information, see CRS Report RL33622, Cuba ' s Future Political Scenarios and U.S. Policy Approaches .) H.R. Action on H.R. Among other legislative initiatives in the 109 th Congress, two bills would have specifically lifted overall restrictions on travel to Cuba: S. 894 (Enzi) and H.R. H.Con.Res. 208 (Serrano) and H.R. In contrast, other Members have introduced legislation, H.R. House-passed H.R. Action was not completed on either S. 600 or H.R. 5025 that would have eased Cuba sanctions on family and educational travel and on private commercial sales of agricultural and medical products; and one Senate provision in the committee version S. 2806 that would have prohibited funds from administering or enforcing restrictions on Cuba travel. The House-passed version of H.R. Human Rights Resolutions

H.Res. S.Res. Legislative Initiatives in the 109th Congress

		Human Rights and Democracy

P.L. (Also see provisions on " Cuba Broadcasting " and " Anti-Drug Cooperation " below.) H.Con.Res. H.R. S.Res. S. 3769 (Ensign). Encourages multilateral cooperation and authorizes a program of assistance to facilitate a peaceful transition in Cuba. H.R. The bills would provide for a general license by the Secretary of the Treasury for travel-related transactions related to the sales and marketing of agricultural products to Cuba; express the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should issue visas for the temporary entry of Cuban nationals to conduct activities related to purchasing U.S. agricultural goods; clarify the "payment of cash in advance" term used in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA) to mean that the payment by the purchaser and the receipt of such payment to the seller occurs prior to the transfer of title of the commodity or product to the purchaser and the release of control of such commodity or product to the purchaser; would prohibit the President from restricting direct transfers from a Cuban financial institution to a U.S. financial institution for U.S. agricultural sales under TSRA; and repeals Section 211 of the Department of Commerce and Relations Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 related to transactions or payments with respect to trademarks. H.R. H.R. H.R. H.R. 5353 (Flake)/ S. 2787 (Craig). H.R. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill include a provision (Section 950 in the House version and Section 846 in the Senate version) that prohibits funds from being used to implement tightened restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba that were issued in February 2005. H.R. S. 1604 (Craig). H.R. 109-102 ( H.R. H.R. U.S. Fugitives

S. 600 (Lugar)/ H.R. H.R. H.R. Diplomatic Personnel in Cuba

H.Con.Res. CRS Report RL32251, Cuba and the State Sponsors of Terrorism List , by [author name scrubbed]. CRS Report RL31139, Cuba: U.S. CRS Report RL33499, Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation , by [author name scrubbed].
Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba under Fidel Castro has consisted largely of isolating the communist nation through comprehensive economic sanctions, which have been significantly tightened by the Bush Administration. Another component of U.S. policy has consisted of support measures for the Cuban people, including private humanitarian donations and U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. While 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—there are several schools of thought on how to achieve that objective: some advocate maximum pressure on Cuba until reforms are enacted; others argue for lifting some U.S. sanctions judged to be hurting the Cuban people; and still others call for a swift normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations. Fidel Castro's announcement in late July 2006 that he was temporarily ceding political power to his brother Raúl in order to recover from surgery has prompted some Members to call for re-examination of U.S. policy.
In the 109th Congress, legislative initiatives included the approval of five human rights resolutions: H.Con.Res. 81, H.Res. 193, H.Res. 388, S.Res. 140, and S.Res. 469. P.L. 109-102 funded Cuba democracy projects in FY2006. Action on several FY2007 appropriations measures were not completed, so action will need to be completed in 2007: House-passed H.R. 5522 would have funded FY2007 democracy projects, and House and Senate versions of the bill had contrasting provisions on anti-drug cooperation; House-passed H.R. 5576 would have prohibited funds from being used to implement tightened restrictions on financing for agricultural exports to Cuba; the Senate version of H.R. 5384 would have liberalized travel related to the sale of agricultural and medical goods to Cuba; and H.R. 5522 and H.R. 5672 would have funded Cuba broadcasting.
Other legislative initiatives not acted upon would have eased U.S. sanctions in various ways: suspension of sanctions after Hurricane Dennis (H.Con.Res. 206); overall sanctions (H.R. 208 and H.R. 579); overall travel (S. 894 and H.R. 1814); family visits (H.R. 2617); educational travel (H.R. 3064); cash in advance for U.S. agricultural sales (H.R. 1339 and S. 634); and facilitation of agricultural sales (H.R. 719 and S. 328). Other measures had provisions on Cuba's trademark registrations (H.R. 719, S. 328, H.R. 3372, S. 1604, H.R. 1689 and S. 69); Cuba broadcasting (S. 600, H.R. 2601); U.S. fugitives in Cuba (H.R. 2601, H.R. 332); sanctions related to Cuba's offshore oil development (H.R. 5292, S. 2682, S. 2795); participation in Cuba's offshore oil development (H.R. 5353, S. 2787); support for U.S. diplomats in Cuba (H.Con.Res. 428); repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act (H.R. 5670); assistance to facilitate a peaceful transition in Cuba (S. 3769); and authorization of $5 million for scholarship and exchange programs (House-passed H.R. 2601).
For additional information, see CRS Report RL33622, Cuba's Future Political Scenarios and U.S. Policy Approaches; CRS Report RL31139, Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances; CRS Report RL32251, Cuba and the State Sponsors of Terrorism List; and CRS Report RL33499, Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation.