[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10779-S10780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, genocide has only one morally tenable 
answer. This week, the United Nations found that answer: decisive and 
forceful action to protect the innocent. Tuesday's Security Council 
resolution put real teeth in the world's effort to stop the Darfur 
genocide: A paltry contingent of 7,000 African Union peacekeepers will 
swell with 26,000 more troops in a combined UN/AU force.
  The peacekeepers will take command of the region by the end of the 
year, and their arms will help to shield the people of Darfur from 
continued murder and rape and displacement.
  I applaud this resolution. We all know that it comes 450,000 lives 
too late. But the UN's action looks positively instantaneous when set 
against the delay and the equivocation of our own Government. Special 
Envoy Andrew Natsios assured the world that American action was 
``imminent'' 7 months ago. And it was 2 years ago that President Bush 
declared the crimes in Darfur ``genocide.''
  But there is still time for America to act, and a vital role for 
America to play. The Security Council's force resolution, as valuable 
as it is, came at a price: To mollify China and several African member 
states, its provisions for multilateral sanctions on Sudan were 
significantly softened. We can, and must, fill the gap with unilateral 
sanctions of our own.
  Multilateral force combined with American sanctions would show the 
international system working at its best. The world community has 
agreed to act against genocide; now, the United States can work in the 
spirit of that resolution and do its own part to bring the suffering to 
an end. Our economic muscle can be a potent weapon.
  Three sanctions bills are before the Senate. Two S. 831--the Sudan 
Divestment Authorization Act of 2007, and S. 1563, the Sudan Disclosure 
and Enforcement Act of 2007--have been authored by my friend and 
colleague, Senator Durbin. From the very start, his voice has been the 
strongest in the Senate on the Darfur genocide, and his tremendous 
leadership stands in stark contrast to this administration.
  A third sanctions bill--H.R. 180, the Darfur Accountability and 
Divestment Act of 2007--has been authored by Representative Barbara 
Lee, whose leadership ranks with Senator Durbin's. I have asked the 
majority leader to expedite consideration of all of these bills.
  I would like to focus for a moment on Representative Lee's bill. It 
aims to punish the bloodstained Government of Sudan by assisting 
divestment from companies that--knowingly or not--have helped to fund 
the genocide. H.R. 180 requires the Department of the Treasury to 
develop a list of companies investing in specific sectors of the 
Sudanese economy: power production, mineral extraction, oil-related 
industries, and military equipment industries.
  Before being put on the list, companies are given 30 days to either 
rebut the designation or to say that they will be suspending such 
activities within a year. The bill also removes specific legal barriers 
to enable mutual fund and corporate pension fund managers to cut ties 
with these listed companies.
  And it allows States and localities to divest their public pension 
funds from those companies whose financial operations help support the 
genocidal practices of the Sudanese Government.
  In ultimately leading to the withdrawal of funds from the Sudanese 
military machine, the bill does valuable work. But I am concerned that 
it entrusts the compilation of the list of companies to the wrong 
agency, Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control. OFAC is an 
enforcement agency, and such investigation is not in its mission.
  I believe the job is better entrusted to an interagency task force 
combining

[[Page S10780]]

the varied strengths of the Departments of Treasury, State, and Energy, 
along with the SEC. This combined approach will mean that our efforts 
toward divestment are as fair, effective, targeted, and transparent as 
they can be. So I have proposed amending the divestment bill to that 
effect; a second amendment authorizes $2 million to make this 
divestment task force a reality.
  But whatever form they take, sanctions need to pass now. As the UN/AU 
force stabilizes Darfur, we must do our utmost to choke off the money 
that has oiled the machinery of slaughter. To those of my colleagues 
who are standing in the way of swift action, I ask:
  What more do you need to see?
  What more do we need to prove?
  What more could it possibly take to move you?
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 180, as amended, and the two 
other strong Senate bills.

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