Political Quotes

“I rise today to express my support for S. 3326, a trade package that includes legislation sponsored by myself and Senator McConnell to renew the import ban on Burma for another year. I have been involved in the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma for 15 years. In 1997, former Senator William Cohen and I authored legislation requiring the President to ban new U.S. investment in Burma if he determined that the Government of Burma had physically harmed, rearrested or exiled Aung San Suu Kyi or committed large-scale repression or violence against the democratic opposition. President Clinton issued the ban in a 1997 Executive order. In 2003, after the regime attempted to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi, Senator McConnell and I introduced the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, which placed a complete ban on imports from Burma. It allowed that ban to be renewed one year at a time. It was signed into law and has been renewed annually since then. It expired on July 26 which is why this legislation is before us today. In past years, the debate on renewing the import ban on Burma has focused on more than two decades of violence, oppression, and human rights abuses by the ruling Burmese military. They annulled the last free parliamentary elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. They kept Suu Kyi in prison or under house arrest, detained hundreds of political prisoners, and ignored democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.…”