IF ONLY OUR PRESIDENT WAS DECENT

Senate OKs Cutting Investment
With Sudan

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) -- State and local governments
and other institutions could divest Sudan
related investments under legislation passed
by the Senate late Wednesday despite
administration opposition.

The bill, designed to pressure Sudan
to ease suffering in its Darfur region
and sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.,
was approved shortly before midnight 
under a consent agreement in which no
vote was taken.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been
killed and millions driven from their 
homes in four years of violence in the
Darfur region since ethnic African rebels 
took up arms against militia supported
by the Arab-dominated central government.
The House passed a similar bill July 31
by a 418-1 vote. Dodd said his version 
will now go to the House for consideration.

It remained unclear, however, what
legislation, if any, eventually will
become law in the face of administration
opposition.

The administration argues the legislation
would infringe on a president's 
constitutional power to establish and
execute U.S. foreign policy. A letter from
the Justice Department to the Senate
Democratic and Republican leaders suggested
the courts might become involved in knocking
down a provision that would give congressional
authorization for state and local governments' 
divestment schemes.

The letter was circulated in November by the
Save Darfur Coalition. Dated Oct. 26, the
letter was the second within a week from the
administration, following by four days a
similar document from the State Department
that made some of the same arguments on
constitutional and foreign policy grounds rather 
than legal.

The Sudan legislation would punish U.S.
or foreign entities for investing in 
Sudan while militias aligned with
President Omar al-Bashir's government
wage a terror campaign in the arid
Darfur region of western Sudan.

Like the State Department letter,
the Justice letter emphasized as
objectionable congressional
authorization for U.S. state and
local divestment policies.
It said the approach is flawed
not only because it would "authorize
states to act in an area in which
the federal government has chosen
not to act" but because it "would
broadly authorize state and local
divestitures in an area or field of
foreign policy in which both Congress
and the executive branch are 
extremely active."

Even if sponsors of the legislation
believe it is consistent with President 
Bush's policies regarding Sudan, the
letter said, "that may not be the case in 
the future. It is entirely possible,
for example, that a state could enact a 
divestment law ... that requires
divestment in circumstances directly contrary 
to specific federal laws."

"During this period," the letter said,
"it is critical that the federal 
government -- the president, Congress
and, if necessary, the federal courts -- 
retain the tools the Constitution gives
them to ensure that state and local 
governments do not engage in divestment
activity that, however well-intentioned, 
would jeopardize United States foreign
policy on Sudan and potentially other 
issues."

It said the Justice Department strongly
opposes the divestment part of the 
proposed law.

"This legislation empowers Americans
to exercise their rights as investors, 
taxpayers, and pensioners to divest from
businesses directly contributing to the 
violence and misery of hundreds of 
thousands of innocent Darfuris," said Dodd, 
who is seeking the Democratic presidential
nomination.

The Senate bill would allow states
and localities to divest from companies 
involved in certain Sudanese business sectors
and allow mutual fund and private pension
managers to cut ties with those same companies.
Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking
Committee, which approved the bill 
unanimously in October.
 
Copyright  2007 The Associated Press. 

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:

Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
and ask your U.S. Representative and Senators
to pass the funding fully for the UN Peacekeepers
for Darfur

President Bush's Comment Phone Line
202-456-1111
He needs a push to do something right.

Investors Against Genocide
http://investorsagainstgenocide.googlepages.com/