The last time a serious effort was made to marshal House cosponsors for travel legislation, the total was 105. We must exceed that number in order to show travel to Cuba is a growing concern, deserving of serious debate and passage.


A regularly updated list of House cosponsors can be seen here and of Senate cosponsors here.


If your Representative or Senator is not on the list, please call his or her office. Speak with the director of the District or State office or to the staff member in the Washington office responsible for foreign affairs. If you are unable to get a definitive commitment to cosponsor (or an outright refusal), call again once a week. After you get an answer, please let us know: rsvpffrd@earthlink.net


The interests that want to keep Cuba off-limits to Americans are very active with money and lobbying. Public opinion is on our side, and is visible through all our efforts.

All members of Congress matter and should hear from concerned constituents.


Your efforts are especially important if you have a Representative or Senator who was elected last November or is on the subcommittees and committees that determine the fate of travel legislation. New House members have already received lots of attention from travel opponents.


House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Click here for list of members


Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Engel (Chair), Meeks, Sánchez, Sires, Giffords, Faleomavaega, Payne, Delahunt, Klein, Green, Burton, Mack, McCaul, Fortuño, Smith, Gallegly, Paul, Davis


Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Click here for list of members.


Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs Dodd (Chair), Kerry, Nelson, Menendez, Webb, Corker, Isakson, Coleman, Sununu

The Latin America Working Group and the Washington Office on Latin America are coordinating National Cuba Call-In Days on May 1 and 2 as the next step in the nationwide campaign to end travel restrictions.


Contact efalkenburger@wola.org or crodriguez@lawg.org for additional information (talking points, phone numbers, partners joining in this effort, etc.).


This grassroots effort to mobilize a coordinated flood of phone calls to Congress, instead of an on-the-ground action day in DC, enables more people to join in but depends on good outreach and preparation at the local level.

To date only one prospective Presidential candidate in the Senate has cosponsored S 721 to end travel restrictions, Chuck Hagel. Silence so far from Biden, Brownback, Clinton, Dodd, McCain, and Obama.


In the House, Kucinich and Paul are cosponsoring HR 654; Hunter and Tancredo are not.


Candidates seeking votes in early primary and caucus states make themselves unusually accessible. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, they need to be asked to cosponsor, or at least if they will vote for, S 721 or HR 654. Even if candidates say "no" or duck the question, they and accompanying media will note travel to Cuba is on the table this election cycle.


Let us know if you find such an opportunity and what happens: rsvpffrd@earthlink.net


Extra points if you capture the question on video and put it on U Tube.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has urged Congress to pass legislation that would end travel restrictions to Cuba and encourage more contact between Cuban and American citizens.


Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Policy, wrote in a March 21 letter to Representative Rangel:


"These policies have largely failed to achieve greater freedom, democracy and respect for human life. At the same time, our nation's counterproductive policies have unnecessarily alienated many in the hemisphere who should be our friends and allies, and brought needless hardship on the Cuban people.


It continues to be our position that the goals of improving the lives of the Cuban people and encouraging democracy in Cuba will best be advanced through more rather than less contact between the Cuban and American people."


An early signer of the statement in support of travel legislation was the Rev. Robert Edgar, President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (NCC) in the USA and a former Member of Congress.

Seed grants ($100 to $500) are available to assist District and State multi-constituency work this spring and summer directed toward education of members of the House and Senate on the issue of travel to Cuba.


Such a grant can pay for the transportation of a speaker/organizer from Washington or New York to your community for one or two days. His or her visit could be the occasion of a public or university talk, an appointment with an editorial board of the daily newspaper and/or an organizing meeting of people from a variety of groups and interests who are affected by travel restrictions. The goal of such a meeting would be to plan outreach activities and the formation of delegations to meet with Representatives and Senators when they are at home during the Memorial Day "district work period".


A grant could also be used to help pay the expenses for a local activist to make phone calls and travel to Congressional districts in your state where no one is currently involved with the Cuba travel issue.


We are very open to other ideas, including of ways to raise the issue of Cuba travel with Presidential candidates in the early caucus and primary states: Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina.


For further information or to apply for a grant, contact John McAuliff. jmcauliff@ffrd.org

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