Lawmaker Seeks Aid for Burma Students

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Lomita) said Wednesday that he has worked out a compromise with House Democrats to provide $2 million in foreign aid to students who have worked to overthrow the military government of the country formerly known as Burma.

The plan to offer the assistance to so-called displaced students through private, volunteer organizations, was attached to a lengthy foreign aid authorization bill being considered by the full House, Rohrabacher said.

“These kids in Burma are as heroic as the ones in China,” Rohrabacher said, referring to the recent democratic uprising led by Chinese students. “This is a great victory.”

The army in Burma seized power last September during a bloody crackdown against mass pro-democracy demonstrations, during which diplomats said at least 1,000 people were killed.

A key House Democrat, Rep. Stephen J. Solarz of New York, chairman of the Asian and Pacific subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed to support Rohrabacher’s aid proposal in an afternoon meeting, Rohrabacher said. Rohrabacher originally had requested $3 million in foreign aid for all classes of Burmese citizens displaced by the political turmoil in their country.

The Rohrabacher amendment will be included for consideration along with other amendments sponsored by Democrats, said the congressman’s spokesman, David Eisner.

Rohrabacher has taken a keen interest in the independence movement in Burma since he traveled to the country shortly after his election last fall to address dissident students who had participated in the anti-government demonstrations.

The government recently announced that is has changed the name of the Southeast Asian nation to Myanmar.