II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1919

To permit travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens and lawful

resident aliens in the United States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 10, 1999

Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To permit travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens

and lawful resident aliens in the United States.

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 ‘‘Freedom to Travel

5 to Cuba Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. TRAVEL TO CUBA.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—

8 (1) FREEDOM OF TRAVEL FOR UNITED STATES

9 CITIZENS AND LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS.—Except

10 as provided in subsection (b), the President shall not
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1 prohibit or regulate, directly or indirectly, travel to

2 or from Cuba by United States citizens or lawful

3 resident aliens in the United States, or any of the

4 transactions incident to such travel that are de5 scribed in paragraph (2).

6 (2) TRANSACTIONS INCIDENT TO TRAVEL.—

7 (A) COVERED TRANSACTIONS.—Except as

8 provided in subparagraph (B), the transactions

9 referred to in paragraph (1) are—

10 (i) any transaction ordinarily inci11 dental to travel to or from Cuba, including

12 the importation into Cuba or the United

13 States of accompanied baggage for per14 sonal use only;

15 (ii) any transaction ordinarily incident

16 to travel to or maintenance within Cuba,

17 including the payment of living expenses

18 and the acquisition of goods or services for

19 personal use;

20 (iii) any transaction ordinarily inci21 dent to the arrangement, promotion, or fa22 cilitation of travel to, from, or within

23 Cuba;

24 (iv) any transaction incident to non25 scheduled air, sea, or land voyages, except
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1 that this clause does not authorize the car2 riage of articles into Cuba or the United

3 States except for baggage accompanying

4 travel to such country; and

5 (v) any normal banking transaction

6 incident to any activity described in any of

7 the preceding clauses, including the

8 issuance, clearing, processing, or payment

9 of checks, drafts, travelers checks, credit

10 or debit card instruments, or similar in11 struments.

12 (B) EXEMPTED TRANSACTIONS.—Subpara13 graph (A) does not apply to the importation

14 into the United States for personal consumption

15 of any goods acquired in Cuba.

16 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a)(1) does not

17 apply—

18 (1) during any period in which—

19 (A) a state of war exists between the

20 United States and Cuba;

21 (B) armed hostilities between the two

22 countries are in progress; or

23 (C) armed hostilities between the two

24 countries are imminent; or
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1 (2) in any case in which to apply such sub2 section would pose imminent danger to the public

3 health or the physical safety of United States trav4 elers.

5 (c) SUPERSEDES OTHER PROVISIONS.—This section

6 supersedes any other provision of law, including section

7 102(h) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity

8 (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6032(h)).

9 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies to ac10 tions taken by the President before the date of enactment

11 of this Act that are in effect on such date and to actions

12 taken on or after such date.

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