Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern, a senior member of the House Rules Committee, introduced a new bill today aimed at lifting the embargo on Cuba.

The initiative rejects six decades of failed foreign policy toward the island and advocates for the use of diplomacy and dialogue, according to a statement published on the official website of the Massachusetts representative.

McGovern introduced HR 7521, the United States-Cuba Trade Act, in response to recent measures by the Donald Trump administration designed to impose a total oil embargo on the largest of the Antilles, reinforcing the White House's unilateral siege.

HR 7521, the United States-Cuba Trade Act, "would repeal or amend several laws codified over decades that restrict trade, exchange, telecommunications, and travel with Cuba," the statement noted.

A similar bill, S. 136, was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Oregon Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.

"The United States has maintained an embargo against Cuba for over sixty years," McGovern emphasized, warning that politicians in Washington have waited all that time for change but have ultimately failed.

"It is time to discard the old, obsolete, and failed policies of the past and try something different," said McGovern, who also co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

"Let us focus on the Cuban people and treat them as human beings who want to live with dignity and freedom," he added. "The Cuban people—not the politicians in Washington—must decide on their own leaders and their own future," McGovern stressed.

The congressman is one of the most active members on Capitol Hill advocating for improved U.S.-Cuba relations. During the Obama administration (2009-2017), he participated in the process that helped ease the embargo and promote diplomacy and bilateral collaboration.

However, the subsequent deterioration of relations following Trump's first term in the White House (2017-2021) was harshly criticized, even by Republican legislators. Trump reversed several Obama-era policies toward Cuba, and many congressional Republicans—particularly those from agricultural states—stated that the new approach was unfortunate and isolationist.

"The Trump administration claims it wants to reduce migration, but its own hardline stance only incentivizes migration to the United States by worsening living conditions in Cuba," McGovern warned.

"The embargo is not only absurdly ineffective—it is counterproductive and harms precisely [...] ordinary people and their families, who are denied food, medicine, and basic goods," he added.

Since 2000, McGovern's efforts to promote the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations have included multiple initiatives.

On February 3, 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed the decree imposing the embargo on Cuba. Four days after that order was issued, Washington's illegal and inhumane policy became official.