Steve Cohen: “as my friend from Kentucky has indicated, we have to set aside ideology on this particular vote, that and labels. He…”

“as my friend from Kentucky has indicated, we have to set aside ideology on this particular vote, that and labels. He would have you believe that those who support the Cohen-Feinstein- Chafee amendment are for repression, for dictators, for brutality, for house arrests, against sanctions, against morality, against protecting Aung San Suu Kyi, against democracy. My friends, it is not nearly so simple. And perhaps I have overstated the statements of my friend from Kentucky, but when we have allegations made that this is a profound moral choice, that this measure that I offer would, in fact, negate the impact of sanctions upon this particular regime, that it would lend support to the military junta-- and we have heard statements made by our colleague from New York that adoption of the Cohen amendment would, in fact, aid and comfort the enemies of democracy--I must speak out with some vigor on such suggestions, or even implication. We heard talk about the European Parliament boycotting Burma. Well, the European Union said no. As a matter of fact, there is a report in papers as of yesterday: ``A Danish proposal for sanctions against Burma was toned down last week to one condemning the Government of SLORC.'' So they toned it down from sanctions to simply condemning, and we condemn them. It was said that Mickey Kantor favors the subcommittee's approach, our Trade Representative favors it. I do not understand that.…”