Senate Votes to End Cuba Travel Ban

Thursday, October 23, 2003

(1:10 PM ET) (17:10 GMT)

The Associated Press

"Why should we now open up travel to Cuba to give additional cash flow to the Castro regime?"

WASHINGTON -- AP
Defying a threatened presidential veto, the Senate joined the House Thursday in moving to end four-decade-old restrictions on travel to Cuba.

"It is not constructive at all to try to slap around Fidel Castro by imposing limits on the American people's right to travel," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota.

The Senate voted 59-36 to bar the use of government money to enforce current travel restrictions. Last month a nearly identical measure passed the House, setting up a showdown with the administration, which says President Bush will veto a $90 billion Transportation and Treasury Department bill if contains the Cuba language.

"The administration believes that it is essential to maintain sanctions and travel restrictions to deny economic resources to the brutal Castro regime," the White House said in a statement.
(More: CNN.com / Inside Politics)
2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan