Congress looks to change Cuba policies

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A House Committee is expected to give the green light today to a financial services bill that would ease U.S. trade and travel restrictions with Cuba.

The $43 billion bill includes provisions that would allow Americans with family in Cuba to travel there once a year instead of once every three years. It also will broaden the definition of who qualifies as family by including first cousins, aunts and uncles.

The provisions are meant to appeal to Cuban-Americans, not the Cuban government, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee told a Capitol Hill publication. Another provision in the bill would end the requirement that Cuba pay for agricultural imports before they leave a U.S. port.

Instead, the Cuban government would be permitted to pay once goods have arrived in Cuba. A Florida congresswoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is expected to offer an amendment to remove the Cuba provisions from the bill. Given that most House lawmakers oppose easing U.S. policy on Cuba, a spokesman for Wasserman Schultz said he thought it was unlikely the measures would remain in the bill.

-- Nicole Gaouette in Washington, D.C.