{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://kaygranger.house.gov/how-congress-could-stymie-obama%E2%80%99s-cuba-plan", "How Congress Could Stymie Obamas Cuba Plan", "2014-12-22", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Kay Granger", "G000377", "kaygranger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "President Barack Obama\u2019s plans to seek a normalization of relations with Cuba split lawmakers, and those on the opposing side vowed to use whatever means available to stand in the way of the policy shift. Mr. Obama said he looked forward to engaging with lawmakers on ways to further his policy aims, but top Republicans signaled they would have little appetite for a rapprochement.\n\t\u201cRelations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom \u2013 and not one second sooner,\u201d House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio).\n\tFor those hoping to halt, or at least slow, the president\u2019s efforts, there are a handful of legislative paths that are could present themselves once lawmakers return to Washington. They fall in three general areas:\n\t* * *\n\tSPENDING BILLS: The most powerful tool available to Congress is its power of the purse: the ability to fund\u2013or more importantly, defund\u2013government programs, initiatives and other policies that lawmakers don\u2019t like. The $1.1 trillion spending bill enacted last week, for example, contains Cuba-related provisions in its roughly 1,600 pages, including a prohibition against funds for U.S. agriculture programs from being used to directly finance or provide assistance to Cuba and a handful of other countries.\n\tCritics of Mr. Obama\u2019s normalization plans have already signaled they plan to use the appropriations process to try to slow the process. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) tweeted on Wednesday that \u201cI will do all in my power to block the use of funds to open an embassy in Cuba.\u201d That\u2019s no idle threat; Mr. Graham is slated to become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee\u2019s subcommittee on state and foreign operations next year. That not only puts him in charge of a bill that included $49.3 billion in discretionary spending for\u00a0 fiscal 2015, but also oversight of the State Department\u2019s budget.\n\tRep. Kay Granger (R., Texas), who chairs the state and foreign operations subcommittee on the other side of the Capitol, criticized the administration\u2019s decision to act unilaterally.\n\t\u201cCongress has a vital role to play in our country\u2019s foreign policy and how American taxpayer dollars are used,\u201d Ms. Granger said.\n\tBeyond preventing funds for the establishment of a U.S. embassy in Havana, appropriators have yet to tip their hands as to how they might try to use their appropriations power to slow Mr. Obama\u2019s plans. Aides suggested one approach would be for critics to explicitly single out Cuba as ineligible for funds appropriated to various government agencies and programs on a broader scale than is currently employed.\n\t* * *\n\tNOMINATIONS: Another easy avenue available to Cuba critics would be to block or slow Mr. Obama\u2019s nominations to the State Department and other international posts as a protest against the attempt to normalize relations with Havana. The White House is already going to face a tougher process getting its executive branch appointments confirmed under the new GOP-controlled Senate, but the addition of a hot-button political issue such as Cuba could make it harder.\n\tSen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Cuban-American himself, said as much on Wednesday at a news conference criticizing the Obama administration\u2019s move. \u201cI anticipate we\u2019re going to have a very interesting couple of years discussing how you\u2019re going to get an ambassador nominated and how you\u2019re going to get an embassy funded,\u201d he said.\n\tLike Mr. Graham, Mr. Rubio will be in a position to follow through on his promises. He\u2019s slated to chair a key subcommittee on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next year, giving him the ability to challenge the White House and State Department in both hearings and when the panel considers nominations.\n\t* * *\n\tEMBARGO ACTION: In his announcement Wednesday, Mr. Obama said he hoped to engage Congress \u201cin an honest and serious debate\u201d about lifting the current embargo that restricts most travel and trade with Cuba. That is not expected to happen any time soon. In fact, strong anti-Cuba lawmakers will want to tighten the embargoes.\n\tThe current U.S. embargo dates back to the 1960s and has been cemented into U.S. law through a number of legislative actions over the years. Mr. Obama acknowledged that Wednesday but said he hoped to work with Congress to reverse course.\n\tCritics said the opposite \u2013 an attempt to reverse the action \u2013 is more likely. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), a vocal critic of the Castro regime, said in a Wednesday statement that it was possible that the actions by the White House violated a number of Cuba-related laws passed previously by Congress.\n\t\u201cThe White House attempts to normalize relationships with Cuba without the approval of Congress may be in direct violation of Helms-Burton that specifically states that all political prisoners must be released and free and fair elections must be held before establishing a diplomatic relationship,\u201d she said.\n\tThe biggest challenge to this approach would be Mr. Obama himself. While the Republican-led Congress could seek to pass legislation targeting the normalization effort, the president would probably veto anything lawmakers were able to pass. Additionally, with bipartisan support for the White House\u2019s plan to establish diplomatic ties, it\u2019s unclear whether any punitive legislation could even make its way through both the House and Senate.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://kaygranger.house.gov/how-congress-could-stymie-obama%E2%80%99s-cuba-plan"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3400839418172836, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}