Max Baucus: “Today the Senate considers extension of economic sanctions against the Burmese regime. The Senate should pass this…”

“Today the Senate considers extension of economic sanctions against the Burmese regime. The Senate should pass this resolution. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy leader in Burma, said "the people in Burma are like prisoners in their own country." Dr. Suu Kyi, herself, remains, quite literally, a prisoner. The Burmese regime has kept her under house arrest on trumped up charges for 14 of the last 20 years. She persists in her dream of freedom and democracy for Burma. By extending economic sanctions against the Burmese regime, we hope to make that dream a reality. The Burmese regime seems intent on keeping its people in chains. According to the State Department, the regime continues to conscript children into the military and engage them in forced labor. It continues to violate freedoms of expression, assembly, association, movement, and religion. It continues to use murder, abduction, rape, and torture against its opponents. Let us stand with the Burmese people. Let us seek to free them from their captivity, and let us renew these sanctions.”