[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 71 (Thursday, May 1, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2999-H3000]
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. 
                                110-107)

  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 takes additional steps with 
respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13047 of 
May 20, 1997, and expanded in Executive Order 13448 of October 18, 
2007.
  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) 
(the ``Act'') and supplemented that Act with additional restrictions. 
On October 18, 2007, I determined that the Government of Burma's 
continued repression of the democratic opposition in Burma, manifested 
at the time 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, warranted an 
expansion of the then-existing sanctions. Executive Order 13448, issued 
on that date, incorporated existing designation criteria set forth in 
Executive

[[Page H3000]]

Order 13310, blocked the property and interests in property of persons 
listed in the Annex to that Executive Order, and provided additional 
criteria for designations of certain other persons.
  The order supplements the existing designation criteria set forth in 
Executive Order 13310, as incorporated in and expanded by Executive 
Order 13448. 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 owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, the 
Government of Burma or an official or 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, 
Executive Order 13448, or the order; or 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, Executive Order 13448, or 
the order.
  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.
  The order authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, after 
consultation with the Secretary of State, 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, April 30, 2008.

                          ____________________