VOA常速英语2008年-Bush Signing Statement on Sudan Divestment Law

By Dan Robinson
Washington
09 February 2008

Some U.S. Lawmakers, and experts testifying to a congressional panel say President Bush may have undermined a law he signed last year designed to encourage divestment from Sudan. VOA's Dan Robinson has a report from Capitol Hill, where a hearing examined the potential impact of the president's action on worldwide efforts for divestment over the Darfur issue.

When he signed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which was aimed at making it easier for U.S. state and local governments and pension funds to end investment ties with companies doing business in Sudan, the president took a step he has employed frequently during his time in the White House.

While saying he shared the concerns of Congress about violence against people in Sudan's Darfur region, President Bush also expressed reservations about the measure in what is called a signing statement.

In short, he reserved the right to overrule the law if divestment decisions taken under the legal framework it provides conflict with what he views as the exclusive authority of the executive branch to conduct foreign policy.

For lawmakers, Democrats² and Republicans, and groups that worked with Congress to get the law passed, that undermines the very purpose of the legislation.

A hearing on Capitol Hill brought together legal experts, a state representative, and the director of the Save Darfur Coalition³ to discuss the subject.

Barney Frank, a Democrat¹, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, challenges the constitutionality of the president's action. "The president was entitled to oppose the bill, the president was entitled to have the State Department lobby against it. He was even entitled to veto it. What he is not entitled to do is, having failed in those efforts, and having declined to veto it, to then unilaterally undermine it by a signing statement which will vitiate its intended effect," he said.

Although the Bush administration sent letters to Congress explaining its reasoning, no White House, State Department or Justice Department officials showed up at the hearing.

The president's signing statement said the divestment law risks being interpreted as insulating from Federal oversight⁴ state and local divestment actions that could interfere⁵ with implementation⁶ of national foreign policy.

Patricia Wald, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, says while many presidents have used signing statements, their use increased sharply beginning with Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Wald says explanations for the president's signing statement lack specificity, and asserts the action could weaken the law. "As a practical matter, signing statements do have real work effects. They may have, as some people have alluded⁷ to, a deterrent⁸ effect, because states don't want to have a lawsuit⁹ even if they would win it eventually, or we all know executive officials in the administration have many areas in which they interact with the states, in which their benignness, or their antipathy¹⁰ could be very important in other areas there are all sorts of ways of leveraging¹¹ power," she said.

Sharper criticism comes from Paul Schwartz, with the law firm Cooley Godward Kronish. Congress, he says, has a significant role in foreign policy, and he agrees that President Bush potentially undermined the law. "In my view, the administration's argument is without any legal merit. Nevertheless, a risk exists that the signing statement could create a mis-impression among states and local governments that are considering targeting Sudan investment, that [the Sudan law] does not effectively protect their actions," he said.

Frank Caprio, of the Office of the Rhode Island General Treasurer¹², says divestment has become an effective tool in dealing¹³ with regimes such as the one in Khartoum accused of supporting genocide.

He asserts that states have the right and capacity to invest based on social, humanitarian¹⁴ and financial values consistent with investment standards, and says this about the signing statement. "The president's murky¹⁵ signing statement reinstates the fear of legal action that this act was intended to remove. It is counter-intuitive that an act which intends to end ambiguity¹⁶ on the issue of Sudan divestment would be accompanied by a presidential statement that opens the very door to the ambiguity by placing the act at the president's potential discretion," he said.

Ambiguity is just what Jerry Fowler, Executive Director of the Save Darfur Coalition, sees having been injected into the picture. "In my mind the real negative impact of the signing statement so far has been the ambiguous message it sends to Khartoum, and to the business interests that are contributing to Khartoum's ability to carry out genocide in Darfur," he said.

Congressman¹⁷ Frank raises the possibility of congressional resolutions that would formally, but only symbolically¹⁸, disapprove¹⁹ of the president's signing statement, a step to place lawmakers on the record on the issue.

Republican Spencer Bachus, a supporter of the Sudan legislation, favors more discussions with the administration on the matter, but has this sharp criticism of the administration. "Communications between this White house and the Congress have been problematic on many issues. Obviously this is an additional one. I am disappointed by the State Department and what appears on its face to be arrogant²⁰ and also an ignorance of the duties and obligations as well as the powers vested in the legislative²¹ branch by the Constitution," he said.

As the controversy²² continues, Fowler of the Save Darfur Coalition, says everyone must keep the most important thing in sight. "Ultimately we can't lose sight of the fact that it is human lives that have been destroyed, and human lives that remain at risk," he said.

Sudan divestment efforts have been initiated²³ in some 20 U.S. States, as part of the worldwide movement to exert more pressure on the Sudanese government, which has supported Arab militia²⁴ attacks against civilians²⁵ in Darfur, a charge Khartoum has always denied.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

5 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

6 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

7 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

8 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

9 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

10 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

11 leveraging   

促使…改变( leverage的现在分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• De-leveraging is a painful process: it has barely begun. 去杠杆化是个痛苦的过程：它才刚刚开始。
• Archimedes said, saying: Give me a fulcrum, I can leveraging the Earth. 阿基米德说过一句话：给我一个支点，我可以撬动地球。

12 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

16 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

17 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

18 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

19 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

20 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

21 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

22 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

23 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

24 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

25 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。