Posted on 07/18/2005 4:52:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
Liberals who are gunning for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay might have an ally in Havana: Fidel Castro.
The Texas Republican was behind a successful campaign to defeat legislation that would ease the United States' hard-line policies toward Cuba.
The Bush administration believes that any relaxation of the Cuba policy would prop up Castro's communist regime.
And DeLay recently worked to crush three appropriations amendments related to Cuba that passed the House last year, the publication The Hill reveals.
The first bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., would have made it easier for U.S. residents to send gifts to Cuba.
Flake argued that U.S. citizens should be permitted to send family members personal hygiene items such as toothpaste.
But DeLay spoke out on the floor to urge House members to reject the bill, saying the Cuban government seizes such packages. He called Castro a murderer and a thief.
DeLay reportedly has an especially strong influence over House Republicans serving their first term. Twenty of 23 freshman Republicans voted against the Flake bill, including all five new GOP members from Texas.
A second amendment would have relaxed restrictions against U.S. residents seeking to visit relatives in Cuba. The third amendment would have facilitated student travel to Cuba.
"Capitol Hill aides say that even though DeLay's poll numbers have plummeted in the wake of ethics allegations, his power base in the House remains potent," The Hills reports.
"DeLay's triumphs on Cuba follow the more high-profile passage of the budget resolution, which the majority leader played a vital role in enacting."
Liberals were allied with Fidel Castro anyhow.
His poll numbers plummeted? BS.
Is Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a commie sympathizer?
I just wish we would extend the "non-propping of dictator" policy to African nations.
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