Democrat, State Dept end impasse on Cuba money
By DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A senior Democratic senator and the State Department have
resolved their dispute over U.S. aid to a program that promotes
democracy in communist Cuba, clearing the way for the Obama
administration to spend $20 million in assistance.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who had placed a hold on the money, said
Tuesday that the department provided answers about oversight of the
program and he had stopped blocking the funds. Established in 1996, the
program promotes human rights and basic freedoms in the Castro-led
nation, but it has come under question amid reports of grantees misusing
money and little U.S. scrutiny.
"The United States has a strong interest in helping the Cuban people
improve their lives and protect their rights. We also have a
responsibility to know how U.S. taxpayer dollars are used and whether
programs are effective," Leahy said in a statement. "For too long this
program has been carried out in ways that have been neither transparent
nor accountable, and with no way to measure results. That needs to
change, and getting answers about the way these funds are spent is a
constructive first step."
Leahy, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on
State Department and Foreign Operations, has not been the only lawmaker
to challenge the program. Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John
Kerry, D-Mass., had blocked the distribution of the $20 million on April
1, arguing that the funds weren't helping the Cuban people and instead
were provoking the Raul Castro regime.
Transparency had been an issue in the standoff because the State
Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development had not
provided information on the program's contracts requested by the Foreign
Relations Committee, which has oversight authority over the agencies.
But last week, Kerry said he was lifting the hold after receiving
assurances from the State Department about the program's effectiveness.
The program and the dispute had divided congressional Democrats as well
as Cuban-Americans, and pitted Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., and Sen. Bob
Menendez, D-N.J., against Kerry and Leahy.
The issue also stirred the political implications for President Barack
Obama and Democrats facing re-election next year while reviving the
debate over human rights in Cuba after more than a half-century of
control by Fidel and Raul Castro.
Sires and Menendez face re-election next year in New Jersey, home to
more than 80,000 Cuban-Americans.
Many of the democracy programs are based in Florida, which Obama won by
a margin of 2.8 percentage points in 2008 over Republican John McCain.
In prevailing in the state, the Democrat captured a solid 47 percent of
the Cuban-American vote, and any erosion of support could impact the
outcome in 2012.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/02/2342210/democrat-state-dept-end-impasse.html
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