Laura Bush heads to Capitol Hill

First lady Laura Bush will join five female senators today to launch a new Women’s Caucus on Burma, focusing on the human-rights crisis in the South Asian country that continues to detain Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bush will meet with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), along with Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs, and Shari Villarosa, deputy chief of the U.S. mission in the Burmese capital of Rangoon.

Mrs. Bush has long pressed for stronger international action against the Burmese junta, and discussion likely will touch on a new push by U.S. negotiators for Suu Kyi’s release when her arrest term expires this weekend.