Miami Democrat Kendrick Meek said he will be among six members of Congress traveling with President Barack Obama on Air Force One this week to the Summit of the Americas — though he disagrees with part of the administration's new Cuba policy.
At a Monday morning rally for his U.S. Senate campaign, Meek said he supports curbing the amount of money Cuban Americans can send to their relatives because the communist government takes a 20 percent cut.
Later Monday, Obama announced that he would allow Cuban Americans to freely send cash to needy relatives, and he called on the Cuban government to confiscate less of the money. The announcement was timed to coincide with the summit that begins Friday in Trinidad.
Meek said he was unaware that Obama had pledged during his campaign to lift the limits on remittances put in place under President George W. Bush.
"I want to talk to the president about the unlimited remittances, if that's what he said, because that could be counterproductive to our mission in Cuba to turn it toward democracy the way we'd like to see it," he said.
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