Congressional and Administration officials are drawing up battle lines tonight over a planned reopening of the US Embassy in Cuba, with several Congressional leaders from both parties vowing to block any such reopening.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D – NJ) says the move is not in the US “national interest,” while Sen. Tom Cotton (R – AR) is blasting the effort as “appeasement of dictators.” House Speaker John Boehner (R – OH) said that US-Cuba relations shouldn’t be revised at all, let alone normalized.
Congress has issued some resolutions opposing ending the Cuba travel ban, though the White House insists it believes there is “strong support” within Congress for ending the economic embargo against the island.
Several Republicans seeking the White House nomination are insisting they will do everything possible to block improvements of US-Cuba ties, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) insisted he would make re-closing the embassy a top priority if elected. Other hawkish candidates are likely to make similar pledges.
