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As you may recall, I found myself at odds with the Clinton and Bush administrations over the issue of oil and natural gas drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. I sent a letter to my local U.S. Congressman, Spencer Bachus, (R-Alabama), asking him to support Congressman Joe Scarborough's (R-Pensacola) legislation aimed at banning further oil and gas exploration in the Gulf. Although it was not totally banned, exploration was limited to an area no closer than 200 miles to the Alabama and Florida shores, and such exploration will be delayed.
After writing Congressman Bachus, I was reasonably satisfied with the results.
Currently, Congressman Bachus is leading an uphill battle to strengthen the pending legislation known as the Sudan Peace Act with an amendment regarding foreign companies doing business in Sudan and trading on American stock exchanges. It has passed the House of Representatives, but seems to be finding resistance in the Senate and White House.
Below is an article from THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS regarding the efforts; if you knew what was happening in Sudan today, you would be shocked that institutional slavery is still allowed to exist.
Bachus wages one-sided war over Sudan policy
08/17/01
MARY ORNDORFF
News Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON When it comes to policies affecting oil drilling and human rights in Sudan, U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus abandons his normally complimentary assessment of the Bush administration and becomes its harshest critic.
"What the president is willing to do and not willing to do is a question of his own conscience," the Vestavia Hills Republican said this week. "The choice is between money and life, and anyone who opposes (sanctions) is putting capital markets ahead of lives. It's blood money."
His proposed sanction: Close American financial markets to foreign oil companies doing business in the African nation, a move he believes would stem the cash flow to Muslims in the north accused of slaughtering Christians in the south.
Federal agencies are lining up in opposition, suggesting the sanction would damage the free-market economy. The situation is developing into Bachus' only serious spat with the White House since President Bush's arrival in January.
"Those decision-makers need to look in the mirror and decide whether they are willing to do what's necessary," Bachus said. "To me, making money off the slaughter in Sudan is unconscionable and inexcusable. We are financing the slaughter."
Reports from the area have linked oil profits to weaponry used by the Islamic forces in attacks that, according to some estimates, have led to 2 million deaths due to war or famine. U.S. oil companies are banned from Sudan, part of trade sanctions to protest the government-sponsored terrorism.
Bachus' amendment about the stock markets, attached to the Sudan Peace Act in June, is not part of the Senate version of the bill, and Congress will reconcile the two after returning to work next month. Bachus plans to continue lobbying, but the more attention the issue draws, the more opponents surface the State Department, the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan among them.
"Prohibiting access to capital markets in the United States would run counter to global United States support for open markets, would undermine our financial market competitiveness and could end up impeding the free flow of capital worldwide," Richard Boucher, spokesman for the State Department, said last week.
Greenspan told a Senate committee last month that while the motive of the sanction is commendable, it could hurt the long-term growth of the American economy. An analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation warned the sanction could cause the oil companies' home countries to retaliate against the United States.
"It's a fair fight. It's me against everybody else the Senate and the administration. I feel pretty confident I'm going to be successful," Bachus said.
But Bachus does have a few allies.
The Congressional Black Caucus, which includes Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Birmingham, has sided with the conservative white Southerner. It wrote Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle asking approval of Bachus' amendment.
After writing Congressman Bachus, I was reasonably satisfied with the results.
Currently, Congressman Bachus is leading an uphill battle to strengthen the pending legislation known as the Sudan Peace Act with an amendment regarding foreign companies doing business in Sudan and trading on American stock exchanges. It has passed the House of Representatives, but seems to be finding resistance in the Senate and White House.
Below is an article from THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS regarding the efforts; if you knew what was happening in Sudan today, you would be shocked that institutional slavery is still allowed to exist.
Bachus wages one-sided war over Sudan policy
08/17/01
MARY ORNDORFF
News Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON When it comes to policies affecting oil drilling and human rights in Sudan, U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus abandons his normally complimentary assessment of the Bush administration and becomes its harshest critic.
"What the president is willing to do and not willing to do is a question of his own conscience," the Vestavia Hills Republican said this week. "The choice is between money and life, and anyone who opposes (sanctions) is putting capital markets ahead of lives. It's blood money."
His proposed sanction: Close American financial markets to foreign oil companies doing business in the African nation, a move he believes would stem the cash flow to Muslims in the north accused of slaughtering Christians in the south.
Federal agencies are lining up in opposition, suggesting the sanction would damage the free-market economy. The situation is developing into Bachus' only serious spat with the White House since President Bush's arrival in January.
"Those decision-makers need to look in the mirror and decide whether they are willing to do what's necessary," Bachus said. "To me, making money off the slaughter in Sudan is unconscionable and inexcusable. We are financing the slaughter."
Reports from the area have linked oil profits to weaponry used by the Islamic forces in attacks that, according to some estimates, have led to 2 million deaths due to war or famine. U.S. oil companies are banned from Sudan, part of trade sanctions to protest the government-sponsored terrorism.
Bachus' amendment about the stock markets, attached to the Sudan Peace Act in June, is not part of the Senate version of the bill, and Congress will reconcile the two after returning to work next month. Bachus plans to continue lobbying, but the more attention the issue draws, the more opponents surface the State Department, the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan among them.
"Prohibiting access to capital markets in the United States would run counter to global United States support for open markets, would undermine our financial market competitiveness and could end up impeding the free flow of capital worldwide," Richard Boucher, spokesman for the State Department, said last week.
Greenspan told a Senate committee last month that while the motive of the sanction is commendable, it could hurt the long-term growth of the American economy. An analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation warned the sanction could cause the oil companies' home countries to retaliate against the United States.
"It's a fair fight. It's me against everybody else the Senate and the administration. I feel pretty confident I'm going to be successful," Bachus said.
But Bachus does have a few allies.
The Congressional Black Caucus, which includes Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Birmingham, has sided with the conservative white Southerner. It wrote Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle asking approval of Bachus' amendment.