*EPF504 06/13/2003
House International Relations Committee Approves Burma Sanctions Act
(HR 2330 passed by voice vote, two amendments added to bill) (360)

By Steve La Rocque
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

One day after the Senate passed a bill endorsing sanctions on Burma by a 97-to-one margin, the House International Relations Committee passed by voice vote its own version of a sanctions bill aimed at that country.

The House International Relations Committee approved H.R. 2330, the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, with two amendments, during a busy mark-up session June 12.

One amendment to H.R. 2330, proposed by Representative Tom Lantos (Democrat of California), focused on the terms by which the President could waive the trade ban on Burma, and sought to coordinate any ban on visas with actions by the European Union. The second amendment, brought by Representative Joseph Pitts (Republican of Pennsylvania, noted the ethnic cleansing of minorities in Burma, and emphasized the need for the United States to work with other nations to promote freedom and human rights in that country.

The House International Relations Committee passed the amendments by unanimous consent.

The House version of the Burma sanctions bill still has to face the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Financial Services Committee and the House Judiciary Committee before being brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for action.

If the bill were to pass the House of Representatives, any differences between H.R. 2330 and the related Senate Bill (S. 1215) would have to be resolved before a reconciled bill could be resubmitted to both the House and Senate for approval.

Both bills to sanction the military government ruling Burma have a wide range of bipartisan support. In the House, there are 49 co-sponsors of H.R. 2330 as of June 12.

Lantos, who introduced H.R. 2330 June 4, and offered the amendment regarding the waiving of the trade ban, is the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee. Pitts, who also serves on the Human Rights Caucus, and the House International Relations Committee, is the founder and co-chairman of the Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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