In May of 2021, Bobby Rush (D-IL-1), a longtime advocate for ending the blockade and restoring relations between the U.S. and Cuba, introduced H.R. 3625 to Congress. This year’s version of a near-annual bill that Rush proposes to Congress, again makes it's goal to repeal the major laws that make up the blockade. Bobby Rush has been involved in Cuba advocacy since the late 90s when he co-sponsored H.R. 367 in 1996 to call for an end of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (also known as the Torricelli Act).

 

Since then, he has co-sponsored numerous bills to promote the restoring of relations, protection of remittances, allowing for the export of food and medicine to Cuba following the Torricelli Act, allowing for business negotiations relating to energy resources and technologies, and more. Additionally, in 2009 he traveled to Cuba with the Congressional Black Caucus to examine possibilities for a new trade relationship between the two countries, foreshadowing the restoring of relations that would happen during Barack Obama’s second term.