Stay Informed!

U.S. Senator Casey supports Josephs' divestment legislation; sends letter to urge Senate passage

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 9 – As the state Senate is poised to consider legislation that would divest state funds from certain entities that do business with the government of Sudan, state Rep. Babette Josephs has added another group of supporters to her cause.

U.S. Sen. Robert Casey Jr. and 13 of Pennsylvania's U.S. representatives have written a letter to several key state senators urging the bill's passage.

The Sudanese government has been sponsoring ethnic cleansing of non-Arab Darfurians since February 2003. To date, more than 400,000 Darfurian civilians have been killed, and millions more have been displaced and are reliant on humanitarian aid. Yet the international community has failed to act.

"It's great to get this kind of support," Josephs said. "The kinds of atrocities that are being inflicted on the people of Darfur cannot be ignored. We must send the government of Sudan a message that we do not tolerate genocide, and enactment of divestment legislation will hit where it will be understood the most -- on the economic level."

The letter points to efforts on the federal level to pressure the Sudanese government to end a campaign of violence in the Darfur region and urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to follow suit.

"We are writing today to urge you to support the passage of H.B. 1140. Narrowly targeted divestment is one of the most effective tools for helping to bring an end to the atrocities in Darfur," the letter reads. "Our efforts on the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act are intended to enhance the ability of Pennsylvania and other states to leverage effective pressure against the Sudanese government."

Josephs' legislation (H.B. 1140) features an approach called the targeted divestment model, which calls for the withholding of billions of dollars of Pennsylvania's pension fund investments from companies that are directly or indirectly helping the Sudanese government perpetuate genocide. Only if a company refuses to change its behavior in response to shareholder engagement would the divestment model call for divestment from that company. Similar divestments helped to bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa.

The legislation would currently affect approximately 30 foreign companies that do business with the government of Sudan.

Josephs' bill is the result of her work with the Sudan Divestment Task Force to develop a targeted divestment model for the Commonwealth. The Sudan Divestment Task Force is the same nonprofit organization the city of Pittsburgh used. Other cities, including Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., 30 colleges and universities, as well as New York, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Texas, Maine, New Jersey and Oregon, all have taken steps to divest from companies doing business in the African nation.

The letter was signed by Casey and U.S. Reps. Josephs Pitts (R), Christopher Carney (D), Allyson Schwartz (D), Jason Altmire (D), Todd Platts (R), Jim Gerlach (R), Tim Murphy (R), Mike Doyle (D), Charlie Dent (R), Chaka Fattah (D), Phil English (R), Robert Brady (D) and Pat Murphy (D).

It was sent to state Sens. Patrick Browne and John Wozniak, the majority and minority committee chairmen, respectively, and Sens. Joseph Scarnati, Dominic Pileggi and Robert Mellow, the president pro tempore, majority leader and Democratic leader of the Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on divestment at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14.