Forty-five groups urge House vote on Cuba war powers resolution

Forty-five organizations sent a letter on September 9 urging House Democratic leadership to call a vote on a resolution that would direct President Trump to end military hostilities against Cuba, citing a humanitarian crisis they say has followed a US oil blockade in place since January.

The letter, addressed to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and ranking members Gregory Meeks and Jim McGovern, asks the three to “immediately announce plans to call a vote” on H.Con.Res. 106, a war powers resolution introduced by Rep. Nydia Velázquez in March. Signatories include the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Church World Service, Demand Progress, Indivisible, National Nurses United, Pax Christi USA, Peace Action and Win Without War, among others, according to Antiwar.com.

The coalition’s letter describes the blockade as “a man-made economic and humanitarian catastrophe, caused in significant part by deliberate policy choices,” and argues it amounts to hostilities that Congress has not authorized under the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

Since January, the letter says, the blockade has cut off nearly all fuel imports to Cuba, with only a single tanker permitted to dock over seven months alongside minor US sales the groups call insufficient to sustain the country’s economy and basic services. The letter cites six nationwide power grid collapses over the past year, leaving more than nine million people without electricity for periods exceeding 20 hours at a time, along with stranded transportation and rationed hospital care.

The letter also cites a 148 percent increase in Cuba’s infant mortality rate since 2018, which the signatories attribute to sanctions, translating to an estimated 1,800 infant deaths that would not otherwise have occurred.

Velázquez’s resolution follows a companion measure in the Senate from Sens. Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego, which failed on a procedural vote of 51 to 47 in April. That vote drew support from 47 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins and Rand Paul, while Democrat John Fetterman voted with Republicans to block it.

In her original announcement introducing the resolution, Velázquez said Trump’s “foreign policy is totally out of control” and called on Congress to “reassert its constitutional authority” before another war begins.

Because H.Con.Res. 106 is a privileged resolution under the War Powers Act, it can be brought to a floor vote without approval from House leadership, though no vote had been scheduled as of September 13.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing US forces into hostilities and limits deployment without congressional authorization to 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period. Lawmakers in both parties have historically disagreed over whether economic and logistical measures, rather than direct combat, qualify as hostilities under the statute.

Cuba relies on imported fuel for the majority of its electricity generation, and the island’s state-run grid has struggled with aging infrastructure for years independent of the current blockade. The coalition’s letter argues the blockade compounds that existing vulnerability by cutting off the fuel needed to keep power plants running and hospitals supplied with backup generation during grid failures.

The Senate companion measure, introduced by Kaine, Schiff and Gallego, was brought to the floor under a separate procedural mechanism available in that chamber and failed by four votes in April. No comparable procedural path exists in the House absent a privileged motion, which is what the September 9 letter asks Democratic leadership to schedule.

A spokesperson for Jeffries’ office had not issued a public response to the letter as of September 13, according to Antiwar.com.