Bush signing statement on Sudan divestment criticized

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers and human rights activists sharply criticized President Bush yesterday for issuing a signing statement that they said has undermined congressional efforts to pressure the Sudanese government to crack down on rebels responsible for the genocide in Darfur.
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At a House Financial Services Committee hearing, members of both parties denounced a signing statement that Bush issued Dec. 31.

The statement challenged the constitutionality of the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which makes it easier for states and municipalities to divest their pension funds from companies that do business with Sudan.

"Apparently we have an admnistration so wedded to the notion of ever-increasing executive power that it is willing to put its interest in enhanced executive power and diminished ability for others in this country to speak up ahead of commitment to ending the genocide in Darfur," said the committee chairman, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts.

The act authorizes state and local efforts to divest from companies with certain business ties to Sudan, such as in power production, mining, oil drilling, and the production of military equipment. The act also forbids investors from suing a mutual fund's managers for breach of fiduciary duty if divesting from such companies causes the fund to earn less money.

The Bush administration opposed the legislation, telling Congress that while the White House shared its concern about Darfur, the legislation would undercut the president's constitutional powers over foreign affairs. Congress passed the bill anyway, by unanimous votes in both chambers.

Bush signed the bill into law and then asserted in a signing statement that the act was unconstitutional.

Witnesses at the hearing yesterday said that Bush's signing statement had undercut the purpose of the law, which was to reassure local governments and fund managers that they would not face lawsuits if they divested from foreign companies with ties to Sudan. Under existing sanctions, US-based companies are already barred from doing business with certain Sudanese companies...........