Title: Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act of 2019
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act of 2019
This bill establishes that any law, regulation, or policy that prohibits or restricts travel to or from Cuba, or transactions incident to such travel, shall have no effect. The President may not restrict or prohibit such travel or transactions unless doing so is necessary to protect (1) U.S. national security, or (2) the health and safety of U.S. citizens or legal residents.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2303 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2303

 To allow United States citizens and legal residents to travel between 
                      the United States and Cuba.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 29, 2019

 Mr. Leahy (for himself, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
 Boozman, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. Casey, 
   Ms. Collins, Mr. Coons, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Enzi, Mrs. 
 Feinstein, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Harris, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. 
Hirono, Mr. Jones, Mr. Kaine, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Manchin, Mr. 
 Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Moran, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Peters, 
   Mr. Reed, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. 
Smith, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Tester, Mr. Udall, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warner, 
  Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To allow United States citizens and legal residents to travel between 
                      the United States and Cuba.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom for Americans to Travel to 
Cuba Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) During the more than 50 years since the United States 
        initially restricted travel by Americans to Cuba--
                    (A) the Soviet Union has dissolved into a dozen 
                independent states; and
                    (B) the United States has resumed diplomatic and 
                trade relations with the communist governments of China 
                and of Vietnam.
            (2) There are no such restrictions on travel by Americans 
        to any other country except North Korea.
            (3) While restrictions on travel by Cuban Americans were 
        lifted in 2009, continuing restrictions on, and requirements of 
        licenses for, travel by non-Cuban Americans are discriminatory 
        and without justification.
            (4) Since 2013, the Government of Cuba--
                    (A) has ended restrictions on foreign travel for 
                most Cubans;
                    (B) has permitted Cubans to buy and sell real 
                property;
                    (C) has permitted hundreds of thousands of Cubans 
                to work as private entrepreneurs; and
                    (D) has greatly expanded public access to the 
                Internet.
            (5) Restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba have 
        resulted in a significant loss of revenue for private Airbnb 
        hosts, restaurants, taxi drivers, and other small businesses in 
        Cuba.
            (6) Many companies in Europe, Canada, Russia, and other 
        countries regularly send their representatives to Cuba, while 
        American companies cannot do so, preventing American companies, 
        including banks and credit card companies, from providing 
        services to Americans who travel to Cuba under a general 
        license issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the 
        Department of the Treasury.
            (7) A majority of Americans from every region of the 
        country and in both major political parties consistently 
        support normalizing travel by Americans to Cuba.
            (8) Ending restrictions on travel to Cuba, and transactions 
        incident to such travel would--
                    (A) pose no threat to the security of the United 
                States;
                    (B) advance United States national interests in the 
                hemisphere; and
                    (C) foster free enterprise and democracy in Cuba.

SEC. 3. TRAVEL TO CUBA.

    Subject to section 4, on or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act--
            (1) the President may not prohibit or otherwise restrict 
        travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal 
        residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel, 
        including banking transactions; and
            (2) any law, regulation, or policy in effect on such date 
        of enactment that prohibits or otherwise restricts travel to or 
        from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents, or any 
        of the transactions incident to such travel, including banking 
        transactions, shall cease to have any force or effect.

SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS.

    (a) Savings Provisions.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to 
limit the authority of the President to restrict travel described in 
section 3, or any transaction incident to such travel, on a case-by-
case basis, if the President determines that such restriction--
            (1) is necessary to protect the national security of the 
        United States; or
            (2) is necessary to protect the health or safety of United 
        States citizens or legal residents resulting from traveling to 
        or from Cuba.
    (b) Written Justification.--Not later than 5 days before 
restricting travel described in section 3 or a transaction incident to 
such travel, pursuant to the authority referred to in subsection (a), 
the President shall submit a written justification for such restriction 
to--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.

SEC. 5. INAPPLICABILITY.

    The provisions of this Act shall apply notwithstanding section 
102(h) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 
1996 (22 U.S.C. 6032(h)) and section 910(b) of the Trade Sanctions 
Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209(b)).
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