Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman has joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers to introduce legislation that would lift restrictions on travel to Cuba.
Boozman, from Arkansas, joined seven fellow senators Thursday to introduce the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015.
The legislation aims to address the Obama administration's proposal to loosen travel restrictions to Cuba and remove restrictions on banking transactions incidental to travel. Last month, the administration announced a series of proposed reforms related to Cuba, including the lifting of travel restrictions.
Many of the proposed reforms require congressional approval. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the House next week.
In a statement, Boozman said:
I really do believe that the way you change the world is through personal relationships. If we are serious about bringing real change to Cuba, we need to expose the Cuban people to our democratic ideals. That clearly hasn’t been accomplished with this travel ban in place. It’s outdated, inconsistent and lifting it would be a good first step toward overall reform.
