White House moves to ease travel restrictions to Cuba
By Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen DeYoung
The White House is preparing a package of measures that would expand opportunities for Americans to travel to Cuba and send money there, congressional and Obama administration officials said Tuesday.
The measures, which do not need congressional approval, would make it easier for Americans to get U.S. government licenses for cultural, educational and sports exchanges, according to congressional aides briefed on the new policy. The regulations would not end the current economic embargo or the ban on American tourists visiting the island.
The changes would largely restore a policy from the Clinton administration that encouraged “people-to-people” contacts with residents of the Communist-ruled nation, officials said. Such contacts were limited by the Helms-Burton legislation of 1996 and later tightened further by the George W. Bush administration.
“These are not revolutionary. They’re not going to cause political blowback. Because we did all this stuff before” under Clinton, said one congressional staff member, who like other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the new policy has not yet been announced.
