Congress needs to close a sanction loophole that benefits Chevron and the Burmese government.

Chevron is one of the last US companies to operate in Burma. They've been excluded from current US sanctions due to a grandfather clause. But Chevron bought these pipelines from Unocal well after the sanctions were in place. Even before Chevron bought them, Unocal admitted to using forced labor to construct the pipelines. Clearly, Chevron knew what they were buying. For more info, visit http://cariaso.livejournal.com/24976.html .

Congress is considering laws that would punish Chevron. Please help to close a loophole which puts $2 billion per year into the hands of an embargoed and brutal government http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/10/congress-moves-.html . Many of the Members of Congress responsible for passing this legislation receive campaign donations from Chevron. Thus, it is imperative that these Members are told that they should pass legislation to pull Chevron out of Burma even though the company has a cozy relationship with them.

The best way to help pass the bills (S.2172 and H.R.3890) is to focus on the Representatives and Senators who sit on the committees currently considering the bills. If your Representative or Senator is listed below, please send them a personalized version of the form letter at the bottom of this page. To be successful, you need to sending a traditional letter or an emails rather than phone calls to these Senators/Reps. It is ideal to match up people with their own Rep/Senators. Emails from people outside the district are generally tossed away.

House Ways and Means

Chevron has given substantially all to Republicans on the committee, but some Democrats have also received donations.

Jim McCrery, LA $33,500

Kevin Brady, TX $20,250

John Linder, GA $8,300

Jon Porter, NV $8,000

Sam Johnson, TX $6,500

Devin Nunes, CA $5,000

Eric Cantor, VA $4,000

Phil English, PA $3,000

Paul Ryan, WI $1,500

Jerry Weller, IL $1,500

John S. Tanner, TN $1000

Mike Thompson, CA $1000

Thomas M. Reynolds, NY $1000

Dave Camp, MI $800

Xavier Becerra, CA $500

Earl Blumenauer, OR $500

John Lewis, GA $500

Earl Pomeroy, ND $500

Jim Ramstad, MN $500

Shelley Berkley, NV

Joseph Crowley, NY

Artur Davis, AL

Lloyd Doggett, TX

Rahm Emanuel, IL

Wally Herger, CA

Kenny C. Hulshof, MO

Ron Kind, WI

John B. Larson, CT

Sander M. Levin, MI

Ron Lewis, KY

Jim McDermott, WA

Michael R. McNulty, NY

Kendrick B. Meek, FL

Richard E. Neal, MA

Bill Pascrell Jr. , NJ

Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA

Fortney Pete Stark, CA

Pat Tiberi, OH

Stephanie Tubbs Jones, OH

Chris Van Hollen, MD

House Judiciary

Chevron has given less to these Members. All of these recipients are Republicans

Democrats

Hon. Berman, California, 28th

Hon. Boucher, Virginia, 9th

Hon. Nadler, New York, 8th

Hon. Scott, Virginia, 3rd

Hon. Watt, North Carolina, 12th

Hon. Lofgren, California, 16th

Hon. Jackson Lee, Texas, 18th

Hon. Waters, California, 35th

Hon. Delahunt, Massachusetts, 10th

Hon. Wexler, Florida, 19th

Hon. Sánchez, California, 39th

Hon. Cohen, Tennessee, 9th

Hon. Johnson, Georgia, 4th

Hon. Sutton, Ohio, 13th

Hon. Gutierrez, Illinois, 4th

Hon. Sherman, California, 27

Hon. Baldwin, Wisconsin, 2nd

Hon. Weiner, New York, 9th

Hon. Schiff, California, 29th

Hon. Davis, Alabama , 7th

Hon. Wasserman Schultz, Florida, 20th

Hon. Ellison, Minnesota, 5th

Republicans

Hon. Issa, California, 49th $11,500

Hon. Gallegly, California, 24th $8,450

Hon. Cannon, Utah, 3rd $8,000

Hon. Goodlatte, Virginia, 6th $3,500

Hon. Keller, Florida, 8th $3,000

Hon. Coble, North Carolina, 6th $2,900

Hon. Lungren, California, 3rd $2,000

Hon. Chabot, Ohio, 1st $1,500

Hon. Feeney, Florida, 24th $1,000

Hon. Pence, Indiana, 6th

Hon. Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin, 5th

Hon. Forbes, Virginia, 4th

Hon. Franks, Arizona, 2nd

Hon. Gohmert, Texas, 1st

Hon. Jordan, Ohio, 4th

Hon. King, Iowa, 5th

Senate Judiciary

S.2172 just needs to get through one committee - the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Here is a list of its members - http://judiciary.senate.gov/members.cfm. According to OpenSecrets.org, many members have accepted money from Chevron. All of them are Republicans.

Democrats

Patrick J. Leahy, VT

Edward M. Kennedy, MA

Joseph R. Biden, Jr., DE

Herb Kohl, WISCONSIN

Dianne Feinstein, CA

Russell D. Feingold, WI

Charles E. Schumer, NY

Richard J. Durbin, IL

Benjamin L. Cardin, MD

Sheldon Whitehouse, RI

Republicans

Jon Kyl, AZ $20,600

Orrin Hatch, UT $20,000

Sam Brownback, KS $14,000

Jeff Sessions, AL $8,000

Tom Coburn, OK $5,750

Arlen Specter, PA $5,250

John Cornyn, TX $5,000

Lindsey Graham, SC $2,000

Charles Grassley, IA $1,500

Sample Form Letters

Here are two sample form letters. One for members of Congress who have accepted campaign donations from Chevron and one for those who have not received campaign donations.

INSERT REP NAME

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

or

INSERT SENATOR NAME

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Even though you have accepted campaign funds from Chevron, I urge you to support S.2172/H.R.3890 which would eliminate an exception that allows Chevron to operate in Burma despite U.S. sanctions.

In 1988, the Burmese military established rule through a military junta. Since 1988, numerous reports, including the annual reports of the U.S. State Department, have described extensive abuses of human rights perpetuated by the Burmese military. These assessments have changed little over the subsequent 17 years. To punish the government for its actions, the U.S. has enacted sanctions against Burma.

Chevron is one of the last U.S. companies to operate in Burma. They have been operating in Burma due due to a grandfather clause. This exception undermines U.S. sanctions against Burma and provides the government with additional funds to operate and survive. It is time for this loophole to end.

I urge to you ignore the statements made by Chevron, even though the company has donated money to your political campaign, and do the right thing. Congress must pass S.2172/H.R.3890.

Thank you,

NAME

ADDRESS

INSERT REP NAME

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

or

INSERT SENATOR NAME

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC 20510

I urge you to support S.2172/H.R.3890 which would eliminate an exception that allows Chevron to operate in Burma despite U.S. sanctions.

In 1988, the Burmese military established rule through a military junta. Since 1988, numerous reports, including the annual reports of the U.S. State Department, have described extensive abuses of human rights perpetuated by the Burmese military. These assessments have changed little over the subsequent 17 years. To punish the government for its actions, the U.S. has enacted sanctions against Burma.

Chevron is one of the last U.S. companies to operate in Burma. They have been operating in Burma due due to a grandfather clause. This exception undermines U.S. sanctions against Burma and provides the government with additional funds to operate and survive. It is time for this loophole to end.

I urge to you ignore the statements made by Chevron and do the right thing. Congress must pass S.2172/H.R.3890.

Thank you,

NAME

ADDRESS

Letters to the Editor

It is also a good idea to write short (2-3) letters to the editor that specifically list the name of members who have accepted funds from Chevron yet have not done anything to move the bill. The goal is to "guilt" these members to do something.

WE NEED TO WRITE A SAMPLE LETTER. NO MORE THAN 3 PARAGRAPHS LONG.