BY ANA RADELAT
Special to The Herald
WASHINGTON -- Farm state lawmakers Tuesday rekindled efforts to
ease
restrictions on the sale of food and medicine to hostile nations,
including Cuba,
that were derailed by Republican leaders last month.
Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., the lead sponsor of the campaign pushed
by U.S.
farm interests, said Tuesday he hopes his new anti-sanctions
bill will be
considered by the Senate next week.
Similar to a Senate-approved amendment that was stripped out of
the nearly $70
billion farm spending bill, Ashcroft's new legislation would
open the door to
unrestricted agriculture and medical sales to countries on the
State Department's
terrorist nation list, including Cuba, and prohibit the president
from including bans
on food and medicine in future sanctions packages.
In a joint statement, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart,
Miami
Republicans, warned American farmers that trying to crack the
38-year-old
embargo on Cuba is a risky venture.
``It is very simple, the Cuban people, once they are free, will
not do business with
those who collaborated with the dictatorship which oppressed
them,'' the
lawmakers' statement said.
GOP leaders removed the anti-sanctions language from the farm
bill after House
and Senate negotiators refused to exempt Cuba.
``We got stiff-armed,'' Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., complained.
The backlash from angry farm state lawmakers prompted Senate Majority
Leader
Trent Lott to allow the issue to be debated anew in the Senate.
House leaders, however, have resisted pressure from the nation's
largest farm
groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to allow a similar bill
to be
considered in that chamber.
Moreover, since sales to Fidel Castro's government has been the
major obstacle
in the anti-sanctions campaign, Ashcroft said it is possible
Cuba may be stripped
out of the bill in order to save the bill and secure new markets
for American
farmers. ``It's been a matter of consideration but not a matter
of conclusion,'' he
said.
Copyright 1999 Miami Herald