Congress Won’t Block Obama From Delisting Cuba on Terror List

Exclusive: Congress Won't Block Obama From Delisting Cuba on Terror List
BY JOHN HUDSONAPRIL 22, 2015 - 5:53 PMJOHN.HUDSON@JOHN_HUDSON

In a major victory for the White House, the Republican-controlled
Congress will not advance a bill designed to block President Barack
Obama's executive action removing Cuba from the state sponsor of
terrorism list.

The Republicans aren't backing down because Obama made a particularly
persuasive case to normalize ties with the communist island after a
half-century of isolation, but for reasons much more practical: Legally,
Congress can't prevent the executive branch from taking Cuba off the
list, according to Republicans.

"We can't undo it," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told Foreign
Policy in an interview on Wednesday. "We just got the word from the
parliamentarian: It's a no-go."

Ros-Lehtinen had won the support of 35 co-sponsors on draft legislation
designed to block Obama's Cuba move and planned to introduce the bill
this week. Officials at the State Department and White House — already
bracing to fight Capitol Hill over funding for a U.S. embassy in Havana
— were also anticipating a major fight with Congress over the delisting
legislation.

"Everybody kind of thought Congress could do this," said a congressional
aide. "It would've meant weeks of markups and hearings in the House and
Senate dedicated to bashing Obama's Cuba policy. This staves off a major
headache for the administration."

According to Ros-Lehtinen, the confusion over Congress's authority
stemmed from a misunderstanding of the Helms-Burton Act, the federal law
passed in 1996 extending and strengthening the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

"When we wrote it, we put the embargo in the legislation so the embargo
can only be lifted by an act of Congress," she said. "But we didn't even
think of the listing of the state sponsor of terrorism because it wasn't
talked about much, so there was no fanfare about it."

"We can't legislatively remove them," she added.

Last week, Obama made a formal recommendation to Congress to remove Cuba
from the list, which also includes traditional adversaries of the United
States such as Iran and Syria, putting in motion a 45-day review process
by Congress. It was widely reported that lawmakers could then take steps
to block the move during the review period — setting up a confrontation
between the two branches.

Removal of the terrorism designation is a major step in the White
House's bid to normalize relations with Cuba; the certification had been
a major obstacle in efforts to bring the two sides closer together.

Removing Cuba from the list would eliminate some sanctions on the
country, such as restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance and a ban on
defense exports to the country.

Ros-Lehtinen said she plans to introduce in the coming weeks legislation
aimed at slamming the brakes on Obama's Cuba policy, but it would not
deal with the delisting of Cuba from the terrorism list "because we
can't undo it," she said.

"Even if we were to pass it … it would be a Pyrrhic victory," she added.

She declined to provide any further details about her future legislation.

Source: Exclusive: Congress Won't Block Obama From Delisting Cuba on
Terror List | Foreign Policy -
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/22/exclusive-congress-wont-block-obama-from-delisting-cuba-on-terror-list/