House panel says no to funds for U.S. embassy in Havana

House panel says no to funds for U.S. embassy in Havana
BY MARIA RECIO
McClatchy Washington Bureau

The White House may be moving quickly to restore full diplomatic
relations with Cuba, but House Republicans are trying to put on the
brakes as a key panel voted Wednesday to prohibit funding for a U.S.
embassy in Havana.

The vote by the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State
Department and foreign operations does not prevent the department from
designating an embassy in Havana.

But it makes it more difficult.

The U.S. already has a building on Havana's Malecon waterfront that was
the embassy until President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed diplomatic
relations in 1961.

It is now the home of the U.S. government's outpost in the communist
nation, the Cuban Interests Section. But the building is badly
dilapidated, and the State Department told Congress last month that it
needs $6.6 million to make improvements for it to function as an embassy.

Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives, among them
several Cuban-Americans, fiercely oppose the White House rapprochement
with Cuba that began last year and are behind the efforts to block the
embassy and appointment of an ambassador.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a member of the funding subcommittee,
said that the provision not only prohibits funds for a U.S. embassy but
also prohibits support for a Cuban embassy and Cuban consulates in the U.S.

"As President Obama continues to appease the Castro brothers, I will
work with my colleagues to ensure that the Congress stands in solidarity
with the Cuban people rather than providing further concessions to their
oppressors," said Diaz-Balart in a statement.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., also a member of the subcommittee, said,
"Unfortunately, this committee is still stuck in the past." Like many
Democrats and Republicans wanting to expand trade, she said, "We should
be moving to increase exchanges with our neighbors."

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., who is Puerto Rican, and also attended the
vote on the funding bill, said in an interview, "I think we should have
an embassy, a full-fledged embassy, and the president should have the
right to establish relations." The problem, he said, is the fear that
politicians have of the powerful Cuban-American community in Florida.

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said, "The president has made
clear that it is clearly in our interest to try to start normalizing
relations between the United States and Cuba. And the next logical step
in that normalization process would be establishing a Cuban Embassy in
the United States and establishing an American Embassy in Cuba."

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who is Cuban-American and a Republican
presidential hopeful, vowed earlier this week to oppose any nominee to
be ambassador to Cuba unless a series of demands on democracy and human
rights are met.

But Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a leading Cuba trade advocate, said, "We
need to have a U.S. ambassador in Cuba so that U.S. citizens traveling
and conducting business there are fully protected, just as they are in
other foreign countries."

In another sign of displeasure with the administration, the House
funding bill also took a swipe at the State Department by withholding 15
percent of its operating budget unless officials respond to Freedom of
Information Act requests. The demand was prompted by persistent
Republican efforts to investigate the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic
compound in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the deaths of four American.
including the U.S. ambassador.

Republicans have launched eight investigations so far, on top of probes
by the FBI and the State Department. The previous inquiry, by the House
Intelligence Committee, debunked several GOP conspiracy theories related
to the event.

"The committee's overarching preference remains for the State Department
to produce all relevant documents needed to complete the task assigned
to us by the House," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who chairs the latest
probe. "The committee has tried talking to the State Department, writing
letters, sending subpoenas, having compliance hearings and signaling
that this step would also be considered if relevant documents were not
produced."

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said this week that officials
were committed to being forthcoming with Congress.

"And I think it is sort of counterproductive to threaten to cut funding
for the precise people you need working to provide you with more
information," she said.

Source: House panel says no to funds for U.S. embassy in Havana | Miami
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