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Massive Agricultural Bill Faces Presidential Veto

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BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Still in Washington, on Capitol Hill, there we are, lawmakers getting ready to vote on an agriculture bill that includes a provision to ease the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

Our congressional correspondent, Chris Black, live from Capitol Hill with more on this.

Hi, Chris, good morning.

CHRIS BLACK, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Bill, later today the Congress is expected to approve a massive agriculture spending bill that ends, for the first time, the 40-year ban on trade with Cuba. The relaxation of sanctions on Cuba would allow Havana to purchase food and medicine from the United States with the help of third-party financiers. The bill also would allow U.S. wholesalers and pharmacists to re-import U.S.-manufactured drugs to the United States and resell them to consumers at lower cost.

But, there is a catch. White House officials say they are deeply concerned about several provisions in the bill. Their are restrictions that were added at the last minute by Republicans. On the Cuba trade issue, it limits the travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba. And on drug re-importation, Democrats say that they so watered down the provisions as to make the re-importation measure almost meaningless.

So, White House officials say Mr. Clinton is weighing his concerns against the need to pass this spending bill. The bill is almost $80 billion to finance drug programs, the Food and Drug Administration and rural development. And it also contains billions of dollars in relief for U.S. farmers, and also about more than $1 billion for cleanup of those fires in the West.

The time is also running out up here. Republican leaders are hoping to finish up work by the end of this week. The temporary spending bill that the president signed into law expires at midnight on Saturday. And he's indicated that he's not willing to sign another seven-day stop-gap spending measure. So the pressure's on to finish up, get home, campaign for reelection -- Bill.

HEMMER: Chris, quickly, back to this Cuba issue. Is this seen as legitimately easing the sanctions in the U.S. policy toward Cuba as a fundamental shift in government policy toward Havana, or is it more of continuation of the same strategy we've seen really develop for the past eight years?

BLACK: This -- it's a little bit of both, Bill. There's no question it's a massive change in policy. The Clinton administration has been heading this way. What made it happen this year was the help of Republicans, ironically enough, from farm states. U.S. farmers are desperately in need of new markets. They pushed for this very, very hard and that really made it happen.

HEMMER: All right, Chris Black from Capitol Hill. Watch it for us. Let us know, OK. Thank you, Chris.

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