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***See important planning note/RSVP requirement for media***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced that the Committee will convene a hearing next Wednesday, February 4 to examine the Obama Administration’s recent policy shift on Cuba.  The hearing, entitled “Cuba: Assessing the Administration’s Sudden Shift," will begin at 10 a.m.

Chairman Royce on the hearing: “The Obama Administration’s sudden shift on Cuba policy raises many concerns, including how hard the United States pressed the Castro regime on its abysmal human rights record during the secret White House negotiations that cut out the State Department.  Cuba has been the region’s worst human rights violator for decades, and dissidents on the island have long looked to the United States for support and solidarity.  Now the Administration  is normalizing relations with this oppressive regime without insisting on dramatic improvements in the human rights front.   And more business that gives hard currency to the regime while workers get a few scraps of local currency is a recipe for greater repression, not Cuban liberation. This hearing will provide an opportunity for the Committee to press State, Treasury, and Commerce Department officials for the many missing details of its entire normalization plan.”

What:
Hearing:  Cuba: Assessing the Administration’s Sudden Shift

When:
10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 4

Where:
2172 Rayburn House Office Building

Witnesses:
The Honorable Roberta S. Jacobson
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State

Mr. John E. Smith
Deputy Director
Office of Foreign Assets Control
U.S. Department of the Treasury

Mr. Matthew S. Borman
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
Bureau of Industry and Security
U.S. Department of Commerce

**Important planning note/RSVP requirement for press covering hearing**

The hearing will be webcast at foreignaffairs.house.gov/live-video-feed.

The hearing room will likely not be able to accommodate all members of the media wishing to cover the hearing from the press viewing area.

Only Congressionally credentialed members of the media will be allowed access to the press viewing area in the committee hearing room and must RSVP to their respective Press Gallery by 5pm on Tuesday, February 3.

All television crews must RSVP to the House Radio TV Gallery at 202-225-5214.

Gallery contact information:

House Radio/TV Gallery:  202-225-5214
House Periodical Gallery:  202-225-2941
House Daily Press Gallery:  202-225-3945
Photographer Gallery:  202-224-6548

***See foreignaffairs.house.gov for updates.

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