Cuba trade hurdle puts Treasury in limbo

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba trade hurdle puts Treasury in limbo
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

By Jonathan Weisman, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Shipments of Montana peas to Cuba have not risen to headline status in Washington, but for a Treasury Department trying to rebuild its depleted ranks, they have become a serious matter.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Senate Finance Committee's ranking Democrat, is single-handedly blocking every senior Treasury nominee -- a dozen or more -- until the Bush administration changes obscure regulations governing agriculture trade with Cuba.

The Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing today for the Treasury Department's would-be deputy secretary, its undersecretary for domestic finance, its management chief and its head lobbyist. But nobody is expecting their confirmations any time soon.

Beneath Treasury Secretary John Snow, the Treasury's upper echelons are studded with vacancies. Treasury officials had hoped that a new team would quash talk that the once-powerful agency is losing its stature.
(snip/...)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05201/540542.stm




Montana's Democratic Senator Baucus on previous
Montana ag-related "program activities" trip to Cuba!



It's what Ricky would want.