CONGRESS TAKES UP CONTROVERSIAL MEASURE
>From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
MSNBC –
July 30 2007
Many of us view the goings on here in your US House with bemusement
or even disdain. The rap is that the "people’s House" occupies itself
with naming post offices and passing "sense of Congress" resolutions
that are sops to one special interest or another and have no real
impact. Everything else — the important stuff — gets mired in
partisanship.
But a resolution on the floor today demonstrates very clearly that
Americans are not the only ones watching what goes on here, and that
what our national legislature says and thinks has great influence
abroad. Today, the House will likely call on the government of Japan
to "apologize and accept historical responsibility" for comfort women
— the young Asian women who were forced into sexual slavery by the
Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The resolution, though
destined for obscurity on these shores, is threatening to cause a
rift with one of America’s closest allies.
The measure is sponsored by Bay Area Democrat Mike Honda, a Japanese
American who spent his childhood in a WWII Japanese internment camp
in Colorado. It has been the subject of a reportedly harsh letter
from the Japanese embassy in Washington to Speaker Pelosi. Normally
forthcoming congressional aides have been secretive about such
run-of-the-mill matters as when the bill would hit the floor,
announcing just yesterday that it be considered today. So great is
the potential impact in Asia that it appears to have been held until
the day after Japanese parliamentary elections.
Congressional staff refers to these resolutions as "postcards" that
can generate three days of headlines in the country in question,
while being completely ignored here. Another extremely controversial
example is one dealing with the "Armenian Genocide" of almost 100
years ago, sponsored by California Democrat Adam Schiff, that awaits
consideration.