Washington DC – On eve of tomorrow’s House Agriculture Committee markup of H.R. 4645, the
Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and USA*Engage today sent a
letter to all members of the committee to urge them to support the bill. NFTC and USA*Engage advocated for the legislation which would lift restrictions on travel by American citizens to Cuba and U.S. agricultural and humanitarian exports to the country. The associations wrote:
“H.R. 4645 represents a bipartisan effort to remove self-imposed and counterproductive barriers to American citizens, farmers and businesses to humanitarian trade with and travel to Cuba. The legislation would reverse the controversial and restrictive “payment of cash in advance” rule governing U.S. exports to Cuba, eliminate an expensive and unnecessary requirement that payments to U.S. agricultural sellers must pass through banks in third countries and lift restrictions on travel by American citizens to Cuba…The Committee mark up on Wednesday will likely be one of the only opportunities this year to vote to liberalize trade and encourage U.S. engagement in the world.”
“Members of the Agriculture Committee have a golden opportunity to vote for a bill that helps American farmers, businesses and citizens, as well as the Cuban people,” said NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin. “We commend Chairman Peterson for his leadership on fixing America’s relationship with Cuba and hope that Members of the Committee will support the Chairman on Wednesday.”
The
letter notes that, should the bill come to the floor, members’ votes will be included in this year’s NFTC/USA*Engage Congressional scorecard.
For a copy of the letter, please click here.
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About USA*Engage
USA*Engage (www.usaengage.org) is a coalition of small and large businesses, agriculture groups and trade associations working to seek alternatives to the proliferation of unilateral U.S. foreign policy sanctions and to promote the benefits of U.S. engagement abroad. Established in 1997 and organized under the National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org), USA*Engage leads a campaign to inform policy-makers, opinion-leaders, and the public about the counterproductive nature of unilateral sanctions, the importance of exports and overseas investment for American competitiveness and jobs, and the role of American companies in promoting human rights and democracy world wide.
About The NFTC
The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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