WASHINGTON, DC - Shortly before midnight last night the U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation stepping up economic pressure on the government of Sudan by prohibiting U.S. government contracts with companies conducting business in Sudan and authorizing states to divest their interests in companies that do business with the Sudanese government.

"I am pleased we were able to get overwhelming bipartisan support to pass this important legislation," said U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). "This measure will allow state and local governments to use their pocketbooks and investment portfolios to pressure Sudan to end the genocide and ease suffering in Darfur."

Reed is a member of the Banking Committee, which unanimously approved the bill in October.

Rhode Island is one of 20 states nationwide to withdraw the state's pension investments from companies that overtly or indirectly aid in Sudan's genocide.

Over the last four years more than 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million have been driven from their homes as part of the ethnic cleansing campaign in the Darfur region since ethnic African rebels took up arms against militia supported by the Arab-dominated central government of Sudan.

Despite strong bipartisan support for the bill, the Bush Administration has indicated that they oppose this legislation. The Senate version of the bill must now be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted 418-1 in favor of a similar measure this summer.

Earlier this year Senator Reed urged President Bush to take a more proactive role in ending the violence in Darfur. Reed joined with several of his Senate colleagues in writing President Bush and calling on him to take more aggressive steps to quell the violence and lay the groundwork for a robust international peacekeeping force with adequate mandate and resources.

"Passing the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act is a positive step. But it has been more than two years since President Bush declared the violence in Darfur to be genocide. He was right to do so, and he was right to send a Special Envoy to the region, but now he must follow up his words with action. The Sudanese government must put a stop to the killing of innocent civilians," concluded Reed.