A group of lawmakers pushing for the U.S. to open travel and trade with Cuba come from different backgrounds and both parties. But they share one key common trait: They hail from states where agriculture interests are big business.
While the lawmakers have touted several benefits of normalizing diplomatic relations with the communist nation — from hopes that such a move would usher in democracy to simply giving Americans the freedom to travel where they wish — key among their motivation is to help their states’ farmers and ranchers.
And because Cuba must import a majority of its food, farm-state lawmakers see Cuba and a small but easily accessible new market.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who visited Cuba earlier this month, said the agriculture community can’t wait to do business with Cuba.
“Farm groups are going to be in strong favor of this,” he said Wednesday while introducing legislation to end travel bans on Americans to Cuba.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says it’s absurd that Cuba imports its powered milk from New Zealand when U.S. companies could easily fill — and profit — from that role.
“They’re 90 miles away,” Durbin said of Cuba. “It isn’t as if the United States is halfway across the world.”
“When you look it at, [U.S. food producers and companies] are clearly, by our proximity, in better shape to have an impact on the future of Cuba than any other nation.”
While Republican leaders in the Senate haven’t embraced opening up trade with Cuba, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said it’s “not difficult at all” for him to buck leadership and support trade with Cuba because such a policy would benefit farm-state Arkansas.
“In the state of Arkansas, we would probably come out as good as anybody, in the sense of being able to sell rice and poultry and things like that” to Cuba, he said.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a key cosponsor of the bill to allow Americans to travel to Cuba, admitted there still are varying opinions in Congress on whether to end the embargo. But he said that lifting the travel ban can grease the wheels for liberalizing U.S. policy regarding Cuba.
“Increasing both the limit on remittance and the types of goods that can be legally exported to the island will lead to increased demand for U.S. commodities,” said Flake in a Tuesday letter to President Obama, which was signed by six other Senate Republicans.
The U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, a network of dozens of farm, food and other agriculture-related groups, was organized shortly after President Obama’s announcement last month that the U.S. would begin discussions to renew diplomatic relations with Cuba. The group plans to lean heavily on Congress and the Obama administration to end trade restrictions with the communist nation.
“Easing financing restrictions on agricultural trade with Cuba will make U.S. farmers and ranchers more competitive in the Cuban market of 11 million consumers,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman, a member of the coalition. “American farmers and agri-businesses must be afforded the opportunity to compete in the Cuban market.”
The National Association of Wheat Growers predicts that the U.S. wheat industry could capture up to 90 percent of the Cuban market if the embargo were dropped.
“U.S. wheat farmers are excited about the prospect of exporting more wheat to Cuba,” said group President Paul Penner.
The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce also is pushing Capitol Hill to quickly adopt legislation to end the embargo and to implement “truly meaningful” policy reforms with Cuba.
Still, it’s uncertain how quickly legislation could move — if at all — through the Republican-controlled Congress.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in December said relations with Cuba’s Castro regime shouldn’t be revisited “until the Cuban people enjoy freedom — and not one second sooner.”
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also has hinted he’s in no hurry to move on the issue, saying he will defer to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is staunchly opposed to normalizing diplomatic relations until democracy takes root in Cuba.
But farm-state Republicans say they will continue pushing for an end to the embargo, despite their leaders’ wishes.
“We simply agree to disagree,” Boozman said.
