II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3977 

To require the Department of State to publish a list of countries that 

contract with the Government of Cuba for their medical missions program and ensure that such contracts are considered as factors in considering Trafficking in Persons report rankings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2020 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require the Department of State to publish a list of 

countries that contract with the Government of Cuba 

for their medical missions program and ensure that such 

contracts are considered as factors in considering Trafficking in Persons report rankings, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cut Profits to the 

5 Cuban Regime Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The Department of State declared in Sep4 tember 2019 that Cuba’s overseas medical missions 

5 program, known as the ‘‘Cuban doctor’s program,’’ 

6 employs up to 50,000 healthcare professionals in 

7 more than 60 countries, and are a major source of 

8 income for the Cuban regime. However, former par9 ticipants describe coercion, non-payment of wages, 

10 withholding of their passports, and restrictions on 

11 their movement. The Department of State has docu12 mented indicators of human trafficking in Cuba’s 

13 overseas medical missions each year since the 2010 

14 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), includ15 ing in the 2019 TIP Report and remain deeply con16 cerned about these abuses. The Department of State 

17 urges host country governments and civil society to 

18 examine the practices in Cuba’s medical missions in 

19 their countries and ensure the rights of healthcare 

20 professionals are protected. 

21 (2) According to the Department of State, the 

22 Government of Cuba collected $7,200,000,000 in a 

23 single year from the export of professional services 

24 through programs like the foreign medical missions 

25 and, while those services were ongoing, refused to 


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1 provide even a living wage to those who were partici2 pating in it. 

3 (3) The Department of State estimates that 

4 globally there are 24,900,000 victims of human traf5 ficking, also commonly referred to as modern slav6 ery. 

7 (4) In the United States, Congress has led ef8 forts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in per9 sons domestically and internationally, particularly 

10 with its enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and 

11 Violence Protection Act of 2000 (Public Law 106– 

12 386). Division A of that Act, the Trafficking Victims 

13 Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), established United 

14 States antitrafficking policy to— 

15 (A) prevent trafficking; 

16 (B) protect trafficking victims; and 

17 (C) prosecute and punish traffickers 

18 (known as the three Ps). 

19 (5) A key element of the TVPA’s foreign policy 

20 objectives involved a new requirement for the Sec21 retary of State to produce an annual report on 

22 human trafficking and to rank foreign governments 

23 based on their antitrafficking efforts. In the ensuing 

24 reports, which the Department of State titled as 

25 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) reports, the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3977.IS S3977

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1 ment developed a ranking system in which the best2 ranked countries were identified as Tier 1 and the 

3 worst-ranked as Tier 3. Moreover, the TVPA stipu4 lated that the worst performers (Tier 3 countries) in 

5 the TIP Report could be subject to potential restric6 tions on certain types of United States foreign aid 

7 and other United States and multilateral funds—a 

8 policy that is intended to motivate countries to avoid 

9 Tier 3 by prioritizing antitrafficking efforts. 

10 SEC. 3. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR COUNTRIES THAT USE THE 

11 CUBAN DOCTOR’S PROGRAM. 

12 (a) REQUIREMENT REPORT ON COUNTRIES THAT

13 USE THE CUBAN DOCTOR’S PROGRAM.—The Secretary of 

14 State shall include in the report required under section 

15 110(b) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

16 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)) a list of countries that contract with 

17 the Government of Cuba to use that country’s medical 

18 missions program, known as the ‘‘Cuban doctor’s pro19 gram’’. 

20 (b) CONSEQUENCES FOR ENABLING TRAFFICKING IN

21 PERSONS.—Section 110(b) of the Trafficking Victims 

22 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)) is amended 

23 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(5) CONSEQUENCES FOR ENABLING TRAF25 FICKING IN PERSONS.—In preparing the report 


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1 under this subsection, including determining which 

2 countries to include on the lists pursuant to para3 graph (1), the Secretary of State shall consider 

4 whether the government of a country enables the 

5 trafficking in persons in another country, including 

6 by participating in programs with foreign govern7 ments and organizations that involve or enable traf8 ficking in persons.’’. 

9 (c) RECOGNITION OF EFFORTS TO PREVENT FUND10 ING GOVERNMENT OF CUBA.—A country’s ranking for 

11 purposes of section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims 

12 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) shall not 

13 be adversely affected as a result of a country’s contracting 

14 with a doctor’s program if the country using the pro15 gram— 

16 (1) compensates medical professionals (or any 

17 service professional) directly rather than through the 

18 government of a country or an organization that is 

19 sponsoring them and pays foreign medical profes20 sionals and personnel the same compensation as do21 mestic medical professionals and personnel are paid 

22 for similar work; 

23 (2) ensures such professionals retain control of 

24 their passports and earnings; 


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1 (3) makes public the terms of the agreement 

2 with the government or sponsoring organization; 

3 (4) ensures medical professionals are allowed to 

4 bring their family (particularly spouses and minor 

5 children) with them; 

6 (5) ensures medical professional’s (and their 

7 family’s) travel are not restricted and that their ac8 tivities and speech are not monitored while in the 

9 host country; 

10 (6) ensures humane and safe working and living 

11 conditions, in accordance with international law; and 

12 (7) ensures that the country providing the pro13 gram is not receiving any additional compensation 

14 from the host country or any organization for the 

15 work of the medical professionals. 

Æ 


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