Sens. Dorgan, Enzi say they have 60 votes necessary to lift Cuba travel ban

A bipartisan pair of senators said Thursday they have the votes in the Senate to lift the longstanding U.S. ban on travel to Cuba.

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said they believe they have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and lift the travel ban to the communist-held nation south of Florida.

The pair said they have 40 co-sponsors for their bill to lift the travel ban, and that they plan to move forward with their bill "in the remaining weeks of the legislative session," according to a joint release.

“It makes no sense to punish the American people by restricting their right to travel simply because our country is trying to punish the Cuban government,” Dorgan said in a statement.

"Decades of the same policy will get you the same result. We're hopefully about to change that and open up a new world for the people of Cuba," said Enzi.

The pair have pushed the change in U.S. policy, and the House Agriculture Committee advanced similar legislation on Wednesday.

But a supermajority of 60 votes will certainly be needed to pass the legislation through the Senate, and Dorgan and Enzi did not name how many senators, exactly, back their legislation.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a Cuban-American, has said he would filibuster any bill to repeal the travel ban.