U.S. senators plan resolution warning Myanmar to reverse course, end coup

Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Republican Senator Todd Young will introduce a resolution later on Thursday calling on Myanmar's military to step back from this week's coup, Cardin told Reuters, backing up the Biden administration's pressure for the release of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "They have to make a choice," Cardin said, explaining that the purpose of the resolution is to show that there will be consequences to the seizure of power.

Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Republican Senator Todd Young will introduce a resolution later on Thursday calling on Myanmar's military to step back from this week's coup, Cardin told Reuters, backing up the Biden administration's pressure for the release of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"They have to make a choice," Cardin said, explaining that the purpose of the resolution is to show that there will be consequences to the seizure of power. "We have tools in place that can be used," Cardin said. Those could include reinstating sanctions lifted after Myanmar moved toward democracy or instituting targeted sanctions against military leaders involved in the coup, he added.

Myanmar's long and troubled transition to democracy was derailed on Monday when army commander Min Aung Hlaing took power, alleging irregularities in an election last November that Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide. Cardin said he expected the resolution would come up for a vote in the Senate, with strong bipartisan support, "showing the international community that the Senate is prepared" to take action, he explained. "I don't know of anyone in the Senate that supports the coup," Cardin said.

He said he and Young were reaching out to other lawmakers from both parties soliciting support for the measure. It was to filed on Wednesday, the same day the U.N. Security Council called for the release of Suu Kyi and others detained by the military and voiced concern over the state of emergency, but stopped short of condemning this week's coup.