WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Kay Granger (TX-12), chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, issued the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s announcement to shift U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations and the release of a U.S. humanitarian aid worker from Cuba.  

“I am relieved that American aid worker Alan Gross is safely back in the U.S. after being unjustly imprisoned for years, but the policy changes announced today by the Obama Administration are deeply concerning.

“The Cuban people remain under the iron grip of a regime that has for decades repressed their freedoms. The Cuban regime should not be rewarded until the Cuban people are given the freedoms they are seeking. The regime has had a sordid history of human rights abuses in addition to working with some of America’s worst enemies around the world. These actions cannot be erased overnight or forgotten as the Administration seeks to shift the U.S. relationship with the government of Cuba.

“Changing the U.S. diplomatic relationship with Cuba should not be a unilateral decision made solely by this Administration. Congress has a vital role to play in our country’s foreign policy and how American taxpayer dollars are used.”