[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 160 (Monday, October 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   BLOCKING PROPERTY AND PROHIBITING CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO 
  BURMA--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 
                                110-66)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an 
Executive Order (the ``Order'') that expands the scope of the national 
emergency declared in Executive Order 13047 of May 20, 1997, and takes 
additional steps with respect to that national emergency.
  In 1997, the United States put in place a prohibition on new 
investment in Burma in response to the Government of Burma's large-
scale repression of the democratic opposition in that country. On July 
28, 2003, those sanctions were expanded by steps taken in Executive 
Order 13310, which contained prohibitions implementing sections 3 and 4 
of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-61) 
and supplemented that Act with additional restrictions. I have now 
determined that the Government of Burma's continued repression of the 
democratic opposition in Burma, manifested most recently in the violent 
response to peaceful demonstrations, the commission of human rights 
abuses related to political repression, and engagement in public 
corruption, including by diverting or misusing Burmese public assets or 
by misusing public authority, warrant an expansion of the existing 
sanctions.
  The order incorporates existing designation criteria set forth in 
Executive Order 13310, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury, after 
consultation with the Secretary of State, to designate any person 
determined to be a senior official of the Government of Burma, the 
State Peace and Development council of Burma, the Union Solidarity and 
Development Association of Burma, or any successor entity to any of the 
foregoing. The order blocks the property and interests in property in 
the United States of persons listed in the Annex to the order and 
provides additional criteria for designations of persons determined by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of 
State, to be responsible for, or to have participated in, human rights 
abuses related to political repression in Burma; to be engaged, or to 
have engaged, in activities facilitating public corruption by senior 
officials of the Government of Burma; to have materially assisted, 
sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical 
support for, or goods or services in support of, the Government of 
Burma, the State Peace and Development Council of Burma, the Union 
Solidarity and Development Association of Burma, any successor entity 
to any of the foregoing, any senior official of any of the foregoing, 
or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked 
pursuant to Executive Order 13310 or section 1(b)(i)-(v) of the order; 
to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for 
or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and 
interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13310 or 
section 1(b)(i)-(v) of the order; or to be a spouse or dependent child 
of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked 
pursuant to the order or Executive Order 13310.
  The order leaves in place the existing prohibitions on new 
investment, the exportation or reexportation to Burma of financial 
services, and the importation of any article that is a product of 
Burma, which were put into effect in Executive Order 13047 and 
Executive Order 13310.
  I delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with 
the Secretary of State, the authority to take such actions, including 
the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers 
granted to the President by IEEPA and section 4 of the Burmese Freedom 
and Democracy Act of 2003 as may be necessary to carry out the purposes 
of the order.
  I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
                                                      George W. Bush.  
The White House, October 18, 2007.

                          ____________________