McConnell is optimistic

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Senator hopeful on U.S. sanctions against Burma
    By Jackie Frank
    WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuter) - A U.S. Senator who has
lobbied hard for economic sanctions against Burma said on Friday
that the White House's recent change of heart on the issue had
improved chances of success for his plan.
    "They are bending in the face of reality," said Sen. Mitch
McConnell, chairman of the Senate's foreign aid appropriations
subcommittee.
    McConnell, who is the Senate's leading proponent of economic
sanctions against Rangoon, was referring to the recent crackdown
on pro-democracy dissidents by the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC).
    In July the Senate will consider the sanctions bill that
cleared the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
    As crafted by McConnell, the four-part sanctions would ban
all private U.S. investment in Burma and deny U.S. visas to
members of the Rangoon regime and their families. It would also
mandate two steps the White House has already taken --
opposition to international lending to Burma and denial of U.S.
government assistance.
    Administration officials said that while they were willing
to work with Congress on sanctions powers, they still opposed
any mandatory course of action against the SLORC regime.
    McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he was cheered by
Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor's statement in Thailand on
Friday that sanctions could be useful to pressure the Burmese
government to ease its political repression.
    "This is an encouraging sign that the administration is
changing it's position," McConnell said.
    The administration opposed McConnell's efforts last year,
arguing that international support was needed to make sanctions
effective.
    But that opposition has been weakened by recent events.
    They include Denmark's announcement that it will ask the
United States and the European Union to impose economic
restrictions against Rangoon, after the death of Denmark's
honorary consul James Leander (Leo) Nichols this week while in
custody in a Burmese jail.
    In addition, dissidents who were to attend a meeting with
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi were detained.
    Two U.S. envoys reported after a trip to Southeast Asia that
ASEAN, the region's foremost economic and political grouping,
and Japan "shared fundamental U.S. concerns" on Burma.
    McConnell said he expects there will be an amendment offered
on the Senate floor to delete the sanctions plan.
    "This bill is very likely to pass. They are going to be on
the short side of Burma sanctions," if the administration
objects to the legislation, he said.
    In statements to congressional committees and to the press,
several State Department and White House officials have said the
adminstration is willing to consider accepting the sanctions
legislation so long as it does not force them into an immediate,
and specific, course of action.
    At the State Department Friday, spokesman Glyn Davies said,
"We think that sanctions are certainly an option that the United
States government can use. What we don't think is appropriate is
that we have dictated to us sanctions that we must impose," he
said.
    In other foreign policy legislation, Congress has often
given the president the right to take a course of action
provided it met U.S. national security goals.
 REUTER
2217 280696 GMT