Jeff Flake: “Mr. Speaker, the travel restrictions to Cuba have outlived their usefulness. For 40 years we have tried to isolate Cuba…”

“Mr. Speaker, the travel restrictions to Cuba have outlived their usefulness. For 40 years we have tried to isolate Cuba and to change that Communist country by not allowing Americans to travel there. It has not worked. Fidel Castro is still entrenched in power. I was able to travel to Cuba just a month or so ago and was able to see firsthand the mess that Fidel Castro has made of that country. Why we would deny Americans who cannot get a travel waiver to go there, why we should deny them the ability to go and see for themselves is beyond me. We want to change China. We want to change North Korea. But in doing so, we do not deny Americans the ability to travel there. That is simply un-American. I hope that we will move beyond this policy.”