The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT OF 2020” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2293-H2300 on May 27, 2020.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT OF 2020
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3744) to condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of these communities inside and outside China.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 3744
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Statement of purpose.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 5. Updating statement of United States policy toward the People's Republic of China.
Sec. 6. Imposition of sanctions.
Sec. 7. Report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region.
Sec. 8. Report on protecting citizens and residents of the
United States from intimidation and coercion.
Sec. 9. Report on security and economic implications of repression in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the
Government of the People's Republic of China.
Sec. 10. Classified report.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to direct United States resources to address human rights violations and abuses, including gross violations of human rights, by the Government of the People's Republic of China through the mass surveillance and internment of over 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of the People's Republic of China has a long history of repressing Turkic Muslims and other Muslim minority groups, particularly Uyghurs, in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In recent decades, central and regional Chinese government policies have systematically discriminated against these minority groups by denying them a range of civil and political rights, including the freedom of expression, religion, and movement, and the right to a fair trial.
(2) In May 2014, the Government of the People's Republic of China launched its latest ``Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism'' campaign, using wide-scale, internationally-linked threats of terrorism as a pretext to justify pervasive restrictions on and serious human rights violations of members of ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The August 2016 appointment of former Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to be Party Secretary of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region accelerated the crackdown across the region. Scholars, human rights organizations, journalists, and think tanks have provided ample evidence substantiating the establishment by the Government of the People's Republic of China of internment camps. Since 2014, the Government of the People's Republic of China has detained more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in these camps. The total ethnic minority population of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was approximately 13,000,000 at the time of the last census conducted by the People's Republic of China in 2010.
(3) The Government of the People's Republic of China's actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region violate international human rights laws and norms, including--
(A) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which the People's Republic of China has acceded;
(B) the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the People's Republic of China has signed and ratified;
(C) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the People's Republic of China has signed; and
(D) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(4) Senior Chinese Communist Party officials, including current Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who executes Chinese government policy in the region, and former Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Deputy Party Secretary Zhu Hailun, who crafted many of the policies implemented in the region, bear direct responsibility for gross human rights violations committed against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups. These abuses include the arbitrary detention of more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups, separation of working age adults from children and the elderly, and the integration of forced labor into supply chains.
(5) Those detained in internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have described forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, food deprivation, and denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms. These victims have confirmed that they were told by guards that the only way to secure their release was to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty. Poor conditions and lack of medical treatment at such facilities appear to have contributed to the deaths of some detainees, including the elderly and infirm.
(6) Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs who have obtained permanent residence or citizenship in other countries report being subjected to threats and harassment from Chinese officials. At least 5 journalists for Radio Free Asia's Uyghur service have publicly detailed abuses their family members in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have endured in response to their work exposing the Government of the People's Republic of China's abusive policies.
(7) In September 2018, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet noted in her first speech as High Commissioner the ``deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim communities, in so-called reeducation camps across Xinjiang''.
(8) In 2019, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China concluded that, based on available evidence, the establishment and actions committed in the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region may constitute ``crimes against humanity''.
(9) On December 31, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-409), which--
(A) condemns the People's Republic of China's ``forced disappearances, extralegal detentions, invasive and omnipresent surveillance, and lack of due process in judicial proceedings'';
(B) authorizes funding to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in the People's Republic of China; and
(C) supports sanctions designations against any entity or individual that--
(i) violates human rights or religious freedoms; or
(ii) engages in censorship activities.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the President should--
(A) condemn abuses against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, members of other Muslim minority groups, and other persons by authorities of the People's Republic of China; and
(B) call on such authorities to immediately--
(i) close the internment camps;
(ii) lift all restrictions on, and ensure respect for, human rights; and
(iii) allow people inside the People's Republic of China to reestablish contact with their loved ones, friends, and associates outside the People's Republic of China;
(2) the Secretary of State should consider strategically employing sanctions and other tools under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), including measures resulting from the designation of the People's Republic of China as a country of particular concern for religious freedom under section 402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii)), that directly address particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
(3) the Secretary of State should--
(A) work with United States allies and partners and through multilateral institutions to condemn the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
(B) coordinate closely with the international community on targeted sanctions and visa restrictions;
(4) the journalists of the Uyghur language service of Radio Free Asia should be commended for their reporting on the human rights and political situation in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region despite efforts by the Government of the People's Republic of China to silence or intimidate their reporting through the detention of family members and relatives in China;
(5) the United States should expand the availability of and capacity for Uyghur language programming on Radio Free Asia in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
(6) the Federal Bureau of Investigation and appropriate United States law enforcement agencies should take steps to hold accountable officials from the People's Republic of China or individuals acting on their behalf who harass, threaten, or intimidate persons within the United States; and
(7) United States companies and individuals selling goods or services or otherwise operating in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region should take steps, including in any public or financial filings, to ensure that--
(A) their commercial activities are not contributing to human rights violations in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or elsewhere in China; and
(B) their supply chains are not compromised by forced labor.
SEC. 5. UPDATING STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
Section 901(b) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-246; 104 Stat. 84) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (8), (9), and (10), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following:
``(7) United States policy toward the People's Republic of China should be explicitly linked to the situation in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, specifically as to whether--
``(A) the internment of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in internment camps has ended;
``(B) all political prisoners are released;
``(C) the use of mass surveillance and predictive policing to discriminate against and violate the human rights of members of specific ethnic groups has ceased and is not evident in other parts of China; and
``(D) the Government of the People's Republic of China has ended particularly severe restrictions of religious and cultural practice in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;''.
SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.
(a) Report Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the President shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives that identifies each foreign person, including any official of the Government of the People's Republic of China, that the President determines is responsible for any of the following with respect to Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, members of other Muslim minority groups, or other persons in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region:
(A) Torture.
(B) Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
(C) Prolonged detention without charges and trial.
(D) Causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons.
(E) Other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.
(2) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex.
(b) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to each foreign person identified in the report required under subsection (a)(1).
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this subsection are the following:
(1) Asset blocking.--The President shall exercise all of the powers granted to the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of a foreign person identified in the report required under subsection (a)(1) if such property and interests in property--
(A) are in the United States;
(B) come within the United States; or
(C) come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien described in subsection (a)(1) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--An alien described in subsection (a)(1) is subject to revocation of any visa or other entry documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is or was issued.
(ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) shall--
(I) take effect immediately; and
(II) cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.
(3) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a foreign person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of paragraph (1) to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of such section 206.
(d) Implementation.--The President may exercise all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section.
(e) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of sanctions under this section with respect to a person identified in the report required under subsection (a)(1) if the President determines and certifies to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives that such a waiver is in the national interest of the United States.
(f) Exceptions.--
(1) Exception for intelligence activities.--Sanctions under this section shall not apply to any activity subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence activities of the United States.
(2) Exception to comply with international obligations and for law enforcement activities.--Sanctions under subsection
(c)(2) shall not apply with respect to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary--
(A) to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations; or
(B) to carry out or assist law enforcement activity in the United States.
(3) Exception relating to importation of goods.--
(A) In general.--The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions authorized under this section shall not include the authority or a requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
(B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term ``good'' means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
(g) Termination of Sanctions.--The President may terminate the application of sanctions under this section with respect to a person if the President determines and reports to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives not later than 15 days before the termination takes effect that--
(1) information exists that the person did not engage in the activity for which sanctions were imposed;
(2) the person has been prosecuted appropriately for the activity for which sanctions were imposed;
(3) the person has credibly demonstrated a significant change in behavior, has paid an appropriate consequence for the activity for which sanctions were imposed, and has credibly committed to not engage in an activity described in subsection (a)(1) in the future; or
(4) the termination of the sanctions is in the national security interests of the United States.
(h) Sunset.--This section, and any sanctions imposed under this section, shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Admission; admitted; alien.--The terms ``admission'',
``admitted'', and ``alien'' have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1101).
(2) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means a person that is not a United States person.
(3) United states person.--The term ``United States person'' means--
(A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States; or
(B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity.
SEC. 7. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN XINJIANG UYGHUR
AUTONOMOUS REGION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies and civil society organizations, shall--
(1) submit a report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
(2) make the report described in paragraph (1) available on the website of the Department of State.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) an assessment of the number of individuals detained in internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
(2) a description of the conditions in such camps for detainees, including, to the extent practicable, an assessment of--
(A) methods of torture;
(B) efforts to force individuals to renounce their faith; and
(C) other serious human rights abuses;
(3) to the extent practicable, an assessment of the number of individuals in the region in forced labor camps;
(4) a description of the methods used by People's Republic of China authorities to ``reeducate'' detainees in internment camps, including a list of government agencies of the People's Republic of China in charge of such reeducation;
(5) an assessment of the use and nature of forced labor in and related to the detention of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including a description of foreign companies and industries directly benefitting from such labor;
(6) an assessment of the level of access to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region granted by the Government of the People's Republic of China to foreign diplomats and consular agents, independent journalists, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations;
(7) an assessment of the mass surveillance, predictive policing, and other methods used by the Government of the People's Republic of China to violate the human rights of persons in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
(8) a description of the frequency with which foreign governments are forcibly returning Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other refugees and asylum seekers to the People's Republic of China;
(9) a description, as appropriate, of United States diplomatic efforts with allies and other nations--
(A) to address the gross violations of human rights in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
(B) to protect asylum seekers from the region; and
(10) the identification of the offices within the Department of State that are responsible for leading and coordinating the diplomatic efforts referred to in paragraph
(9).
SEC. 8. REPORT ON PROTECTING CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS OF THE
UNITED STATES FROM INTIMIDATION AND COERCION.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives that outlines all of the efforts to protect United States citizens and residents, including ethnic Uyghurs and Chinese nationals legally studying or working temporarily in the United States, who have experienced harassment or intimidation within the United States by officials or agents of the Government of the People's Republic of China.
SEC. 9. REPORT ON SECURITY AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF
REPRESSION IN XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION
BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives on the matters described in subsection (b).
(b) Matters to Be Included.-- The report required under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) an assessment of the national and regional security threats posed to the United States by the policies of the Government of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
(2) a description of--
(A) the acquisition or development of technology by the Government of the People's Republic of China to facilitate internment and mass surveillance in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including technology related to predictive policing and large-scale data collection and analysis; and
(B) the threats that the acquisition, development, and use of such technologies pose to the United States;
(3) a list of Chinese companies that are involved in--
(A) constructing or operating the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; or
(B) providing or operating mass surveillance technology in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
(4) a description of the role of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in internment and forced labor in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
(c) Form of Report.--The report required under subsection
(a) shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex.
SEC. 10. CLASSIFIED REPORT.
The Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with such elements of the Intelligence Community as the Director deems appropriate, shall submit a classified report to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives that assesses the ability of the United States Government to collect and analyze intelligence regarding--
(1) the scope and scale of the detention and forced labor of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the People's Republic of China;
(2) the gross violations of human rights perpetrated inside the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
(3) other policies of the Government of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that constitute gross violations of human rights.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include in the Record extraneous material on S. 3744.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I should advise the House that we are taking up this bill about 1\1/2\ hours earlier than expected, and I hope that our colleagues from the Foreign Affairs Committee have changed their schedule so that they can come to join us to speak on this bill.
Let me point out that even in a pandemic, the American Congress focuses on human rights.
Madam Speaker, let me start by thanking our colleagues from both sides of the aisle and both Chambers for their work on this legislation. I especially want to thank Senators Rubio and Menendez, and Representatives McGovern, Sherman, Smith, Suozzi, and others who have worked for well more than a year, well more than 2 years in most cases, to focus the world's attention on the deprivation of human rights in Xinjiang province and to work for an appropriate American response.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act is the result of tireless work from so many individuals who focus on human rights. We have seen the reporting, the interviews, the pictures, the documentaries. The evidence is overwhelming: The Chinese Government has brutally detained and reeducated or sought to reeducate over 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, chiefly Muslim minorities, in the northwest of China. It is horrific.
The goal of this inhumane campaign is clear: to force these minorities to assimilate, to erase all evidence of their unique language, culture, history, and religion.
Beijing has relied heavily on technology to carry out this abuse, transforming the Uyghur region of Xinjiang into a surveillance state. But even as the world has learned more and more about the extent of these atrocities, there has been nowhere near enough action.
Beijing has leveraged its economic clout to silence criticism of its horrific human rights abuses. So many countries, particularly Muslim countries that always speak out when any group of Muslims is being denied their human rights, have been pressured into silence. Now, China wants the world to forget about the Uyghurs as we grapple with this global pandemic.
We must push back. Today, we send a message loud and clear: We stand with the Uyghurs. We will fight for the oppressed. And we will not forget.
By passing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act today, the United States takes a meaningful step toward holding the perpetrators accountable. This bill will impose sanctions on those individuals responsible for human rights violations in Xinjiang. It also calls on our government experts to issue reports that can improve our understanding of the situation on the ground.
The persecution of the Uyghurs is one of the greatest human rights tragedies currently taking place. We must stand on the right side of history and respond decisively. This legislation is a critical step forward, and I am proud to support its passage. I hope all Members of this body will join me in that effort, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the last several months have made it clear to the entire world that the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP, has little regard for human life. When faced with a decision, they have chosen and will continue to choose to preserve their own power over helping their own people.
Rather than alert the world to the true dangers the coronavirus posed to the world, they instead lied and orchestrated the worst coverup in human history, exposing the Chinese people and the entire world to a virus that has killed over 350,000 people, including nearly 100,000 innocent Americans. Another 5.5 million have been infected worldwide, and those numbers only continue to climb.
This atrocity is far from the only example of the CCP prioritizing its power over human life and liberty. At this very moment, the CCP's rubber-stamp legislature is working to dismantle Hong Kong's freedoms. Under the guise of national security legislation, the CCP plans to expand its police state to Hong Kong and fundamentally change Hong Kongers' way of life, freedom, and autonomy.
The CCP is showing the world that they are willing to tear up the international commitments they made to preserve freedom in Hong Kong.
We can no longer stand idly by while the CCP consolidates its power at the expense of freedom around the world. The ultimate example of what the CCP is willing to do in the name of national security has been clear for some time, and that is the cultural genocide of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslim groups in western China.
Over the last several years, these ethnic minorities have been rounded up and forced into concentration camps where they are brainwashed with state propaganda and forced to do grueling work as part of their ``reform.''
They live under a complete Orwellian surveillance program, an apparatus tracking their every move. Some have been tortured and killed. Others have been disappeared from their families, never to be returned, with no explanation from the CCP.
That is why I stand today in strong support of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
The goal of the Chinese Government is to completely eradicate an entire culture simply because it doesn't fit within what the Chinese Communist Party deems ``Chinese.'' They want to remove the cultural, religious, and ethnic identity the Uyghurs have and indoctrinate them so that they love the Chinese Communist Party more than their family, their culture, or their religion. In total, 1 to 3 million Chinese citizens have been subjected to the state-sponsored cultural genocide.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called this the ``stain of the century,'' and he is absolutely right.
That is why we can't sit idly by and allow this to continue. As I have said before, our silence will be complicit, and our inaction will be our appeasement. But today we are acting, Madam Speaker, as a beacon of hope and freedom to the rest of the world, and the United States has a responsibility to take action.
Now is the time for all of us, Republican and Democrat, as Americans to stand together and show the CCP that their egregious human rights abuses will not go unchecked. We can do that by passing this bill today with strong bipartisan support to show the Chinese Communist Party and the entire world that their treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs is inexcusable and will not be allowed without serious consequences.
This legislation requires the President to submit a report that identifies Chinese Communist Party officials who have carried out these heinous crimes. These officials may then be sanctioned for their complicity.
This bill also requires a separate human rights report that highlights abuses specifically to Xinjiang, China.
Madam Speaker, I am hopeful that this is just one of many bipartisan actions that we can take as we push back on the world's most oppressive dictatorship.
We must acknowledge that the CCP is the greatest economic and national security threat of this generation. We must face this threat not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans.
As the chairman of the recently announced China Task Force in the House, I look forward to working with my colleagues to plan decisive action to push back on the CCP. We cannot allow the CCP to remain unchallenged on the world stage.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), chair of the Rules Committee, chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and a man who is known for his dedication to human rights.
Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, today, I am proud the House and Senate have come together in a bipartisan way to pass S. 3744, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.
This is monumental legislation that provides the administration a clear direction for implementing U.S. policy and sends a clear message that the United States supports the human rights of Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups in China.
I thank Congressmen Chris Smith, Brad Sherman, and Tom Suozzi, and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul for their leadership on this bill.
We now believe that as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups have been arbitrarily detained in mass internment camps and subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination.
In recent months, we have seen leaked internal Chinese Government documents that show the scope and implementation of the mass internment camp system, including: evidence that the camp system is organized at the direction of top Chinese Government officials, documentation that punishments can be based on the behavior of their relatives outside the camps, outlining the use of coercive force and punishment inflicted upon inmates in a manual, guidance for how Chinese officials should use surveillance to determine who to detain in the camps, and evidence of the assignment of mass internment camp detainees to forced labor.
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There can be no doubt that the Chinese Government is trying to stamp out the Uyghur identity. The policies of the Chinese Government contravene the letter and the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and violate the government's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed but not ratified, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights ratified by China in 2001.
It is important to always make clear that our criticism is focused on the Chinese Government. We respect the Chinese people, many of whom have suffered from and are victims of the authoritarian policies of the government.
Last year, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which I chair, published a report making the case that the persecution of Uyghurs may fit the definition of crimes against humanity as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In March, the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the Holocaust Memorial Museum also determined that there is a
``reasonable basis to believe that the Government of China is committing crimes against humanity.''
Passage of the legislation is an important first step, but there is much more that we need to do.
First, the administration should impose Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on Chinese officials who are directing ongoing human rights abuses, including Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary.
Second, the administration should further expand the Commerce Department's ``Entity List,'' which imposes restrictions on businesses and entities that provide technology, training, or equipment that has been used in mass detentions or surveillance.
Third, I have introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, H.R. 6210, that would prohibit imports from Xinjiang to the United States unless companies can prove that their goods were not produced with forced labor.
Too many U.S. and international companies are complicit in the exploitation of the forced labor of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities.
I am proud to stand in solidarity with the Uyghur, Chinese, Tibetan, and, indeed, all the people living under the rule of the Chinese Government in their struggle to live freely, practice their religious beliefs freely, and speak their own languages freely.
I look forward to the passage of this legislation and continuing our bipartisan work together to support human rights in China.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the House sponsor of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my good friend for his very strong remarks today and his leadership, Brad Sherman as well, and, of course, Jim McGovern, as chairman, and I, as the ranking member of the China Commission, for the work that we have been doing to try to bring light to this terrible human rights tragedy, this genocide that is being committed against the Uyghur people.
Madam Speaker, Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping's ongoing genocide against the approximately 10 million Uyghurs living in Xinjiang in northwestern China demands action.
Today, more than a million Uyghurs are in concentration camps. Millions more are harassed, beaten, raped, and tortured.
S. 3744, which is nearly identical to legislation H.R. 649 that I and my good friend Mr. Suozzi and 136 bipartisan cosponsors introduced 17 months ago, requires the administration to categorize and report on the human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Government and take specific steps to sanction China's officials for these abuses, including visa denial and asset blocking, the essence of the Magnitsky Act, which is the prohibition of all financial transactions by an abuser.
Madam Speaker, at a 2018 congressional hearing, Mihrigul Tursun recounted her ordeal with torture, sexual abuse, and detention in one of Xi Jinping's concentration camps. She broke down weeping, telling us that she pleaded with God to end her life. Her Chinese jailers restrained her to a table, increased the electrical current coursing through her body, and mocked her belief in God.
She was tortured simply because she was an ethnic Uyghur and a Muslim living in China.
Madam Speaker, there are millions of stories like this waiting to be told about the crimes against humanity being committed by the Chinese Government against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslims.
There are many people--we all know them; I have had them at my hearings in the past--women and men who have had their entire families back in this region, Xinjiang, arrested and put into concentration camps and harassed in other ways.
Chinese authorities initially denied the existence of the concentration camps and even tried to portray them as vocational training centers. What a euphemism. They employed lies, censorship, and economic coercion to stifle discussion of their crimes.
Where have we heard that before? Look at what is going on with COVID-
19 and the deceit and the lies that have come from Xi Jinping himself.
But documents obtained by The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have, indeed, exposed the brutality behind Beijing's plans to radically and coercively transform the culture and religion of ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims.
The leaked documents showed detailed plans to intern between 1 and 3 million Uyghurs into concentration camps, where they are subjected to severe human rights abuse and Orwellian indoctrination efforts for those whose thinking ``has been infected''--that is to say, they are Muslims. To Xi Jinping, that is something that needs to be obliterated.
At the same time, Beijing instituted plans to erase the influence of Islam in western China, bulldozing mosques and shrines, severely throttling all religious practice, and forcing camp detainees to renounce their faith.
The leaked documents also show that Xi Jinping, himself, the so-
called President--not elected by the people, of course--Xi Jinping, himself, directed the crackdown, saying that the Communist Party must put the ``organs of dictatorship'' to work and show ``absolutely no mercy'' in dealing with the Uyghurs and other Muslims.
In one speech, President Xi said: ``The weapons of the people's democratic dictatorship must be wielded without any hesitation or wavering.''
Continuing the quote, in February 2017, he told thousands of police officers and troops standing at attention in a vast square in Urumqi to prepare for a ``smashing, obliterating offensive,'' which is exactly what they have done.
According to documents obtained again by The New York Times, Communist Party officials who were reluctant to carry out Xi Jinping's draconian and horrific policies were themselves investigated and expunged. ``Secret teams of investigators have traveled across the region identifying those who were not doing enough. In 2017, the party opened more than 12,000 investigations into party members in Xinjiang.''
Madam Speaker, we cannot be silent.
Xi Jinping is smashing and obliterating an entire people. He is presiding over a genocide.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), a woman who has dedicated literally decades of her life to fighting for human rights, particularly in China, the distinguished Speaker of the House.
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him and Mr. McCaul, Mr. Engel, the chairman, ranking member, and senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for bringing this important legislation to the floor. It is an honor to be here with all of them, and with Mr. Suozzi, who has been a champion for religious rights throughout the world.
Madam Speaker, Mr. Smith and I go back decades in our fight for human rights in China, whether it is in Tibet, whether it is in Beijing, whether it is in Hong Kong. The list goes on and on. I thank Mr. Smith for his ongoing leadership.
Madam Speaker, I also thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. McGovern, the chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Mr. Smith is the ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and I thank Mr. Smith.
Today in this House of Representatives, in a very strong, bipartisan way, we are sending a message to the persecuted that they are not forgotten. We are saying to the President of China: ``You may tell these people that they are forgotten, but they aren't.''
On the floor of the House of Representatives, in bipartisan, bicameral legislation, we are here in support of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, strong bipartisan legislation to address and defend the rights and dignity of the Uyghur people from China's oppression.
Today, again, we are sending that message even as we are heartbroken as to what China's people are suffering in terms of COVID-19 and that crisis. We are sad about that.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chris Smith, again, and Mr. Engel and Mr. McCaul. I thank Senator Rubio, also, for his leadership on this legislation. He has been a champion working with us on the China issues.
Beijing's barbarous actions targeting the Uyghur people are an outrage to the collective conscience of the world. Across Xinjiang, a Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities face brutal oppression, as Mr. Smith was pointing out:
A pervasive state of mass surveillance and predictive policing used to discriminate and violate the human rights of minorities;
The mass incarceration of more than 1 million--and that is a small number, a very conservative, small number--innocent people, with beatings, solitary confinement, deprivation of food and medical treatment, and the number is probably much larger than that;
Forced sterilizations and other forms of torture;
Incidents of mass shootings, extrajudicial killings, and the intimidation and suppression of journalists courageously exposing the truth.
Today, with this overwhelming bipartisan legislation, the United States Congress is taking a firm step to counter Beijing's horrific human rights abuses against the Uyghurs.
In the House, when brought to the floor in December, this legislation passed on a nearly unanimous basis. In the Senate, it passed under unanimous consent, with more than 50 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.
This legislation helps uncover the truth, requiring reports by the Director of National Intelligence, State Department, and FBI about the depths of the crisis and about China's campaign against journalists exposing the facts.
It creates accountability and ensures transparency of Chinese and foreign companies involved in the camps, and it engages the full firepower of American law and leadership, including by urging the application of targeted sanctions against those involved in the oppression of the Uyghur people.
We must continue to raise a drumbeat and shine a light on the abuse perpetrated by Beijing against the Uyghurs whenever we can--from this House floor, to the State Department, to our multilateral institutions.
Last Friday, as Speaker, I had the honor of appointing Nury Turkel, a human rights champion who was born in a camp in the Xinjiang region, to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, largely focused, with Ambassador Brownback's leadership, on freedom of religion in many countries. There, I am confident that he will continue to be a powerful voice for the Uyghur people and for the cause of justice around the world.
In just over a week--just think of it--the global community will mark the solemn milestone of 31 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, when students, workers, and citizens were gunned down as they peacefully defied an oppressive regime to demand their liberties and human rights.
Sadly, today, Beijing's human rights abuses continue--blatantly continue--targeting so many, from the decades-long abuse faced by the Tibetan people--many of us have visited Tibet and seen firsthand what is happening there--to Hong Kong's fight for democracy and the rule of law, which has once again been targeted in recent days in a very shameful way, to the jailing of journalists, human rights lawyers, Christians, and democracy advocates throughout the mainland.
{time} 1245
To honor all who have been persecuted, we must renew our commitment to speaking out against China's human rights abuses. If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of some commercial interest, then we lose all moral authority to speak out on human rights violations anyplace in the world. It is a challenge to our conscience. We must do the right thing, and that is what we are doing today.
In honor of the millions fighting for their dignity, safety, and rights in China and around the world, I strongly urge a bipartisan vote for the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.
I again thank those responsible, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Engel, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Smith, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mr. Suozzi, who has been a champion, as I say, on religious freedom throughout the world.
I want to close by commending Mr. McGovern, again, for being relentless and persistent in terms of shining a bright light on human rights violations throughout world and especially in China.
Madam Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, so I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi), an advocate for human and religious rights.
Mr. SUOZZI. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman, the ranking member, and Congressman Smith for their good work and partnership on this issue.
I thank Chairman McGovern and Speaker Pelosi for their leadership on all issues of human rights.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which holds the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the horrific treatment of Uyghur Muslim minorities, including forced labor camps in western China, over 1 million Uyghurs in mass internment who are subjected to systemized brainwashing, Big Brother-like surveillance, and gross violations of their religious freedom.
Since President Nixon went to China in 1971, most Americans have believed that with increased economic integration and exposure to our system of democracy and our way of life, that China would become more like us. Clearly, that has not happened.
Not only does the Chinese Communist Party reject any real steps toward democracy, withhold information from the world community regarding the coronavirus, continue its unfair trade practices, and cheat by stealing our intellectual property, but it continually violates human rights, as we have seen, not only in Xinjiang with the Uyghurs, but also in Tibet with the Buddhists, and in Hong Kong with the students and the journalists.
Representative Chris Smith and I originally introduced legislation regarding abuse of the Uyghurs in November of 2018 and, while it has taken too long, it is never too late to speak out for human rights and penalize China for its egregious violations.
Madam Speaker, Uyghur families are prohibited from practicing their faith. They are often separated from their family members and prohibited from reading the Koran and making their daily prayers and, in some instances, they are forced to eat pork during Ramadan.
The so-called ``re-education camps'' in China, where Uyghurs are forced to work in textile or manufacturing jobs in or near mass internment camps are not only repugnant to our values, but also taint global supply chains.
The brutal, religious-based persecution of the Uyghurs in China is alarming but not new. China has continued to repress anyone who does not conform to their system, including Tibetans, Christians, and the people of Hong Kong.
Just last week in Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party proposed national security legislation that would erode Hong Kong's autonomy and civil liberties. We must remain vigilant.
This bill holds the Chinese Communist Party and Politburo members like Chen Quanguo accountable for their abuses.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this important, bipartisan legislation.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), an advocate for human rights.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership. I thank Mr. Smith for his leadership as well, and the gentleman from Texas, my colleague, for his leadership; and listening to the Speaker for her continued years of leadership.
The treatment of Uyghurs in China, which warranted the call for the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, S. 3744, the treatment is of such volcanic, mammoth proportions that we cannot even describe it on this floor.
We, in America, take our faith so seriously. We are gratified that whatever our faith is, and whatever the time that we have for our particular faith, whether we go to confession as Catholics or whether or not we take communion, as many faiths do, whether we honor Easter as a special moment for Christians of resurrection, whether or not we know the Passover and the specialness of that, or whether as Muslims we know Ramadan, we are clearly ones that understand how much faith is a part of our life.
Can you imagine being in a country that brutalizes you because you practice your faith; keeps you from reading the very book that gives you faith and inspiration, the Koran, and then, doing the most dastardly act, which is to separate you from your families?
Of course, many of us know, Ramadan just finished with Eid on Saturday. Americans who are Muslims had the opportunity to do and practice their faith and share it with their families without recrimination and violence.
Just imagine a Uyghur in China, fearful of your life, and not having the ability to practice your faith; and as one of my colleagues said, the worst, forcing you to eat pork and continuing to subject you to penalties and punishment.
So, I rise to support this legislation because we can do nothing less but to support the Human Rights Policy Act for the Uyghurs and bring them out of the terrible tragedy of oppression in China.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Just today, the Secretary of State announced, under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that we passed last November which requires an annual certification of Hong Kong's autonomy, he just announced that he cannot certify the autonomous nature of Hong Kong.
This is a very significant day, Madam Speaker, because the Chinese Communist Party now has cracked down on the free and loving people of Hong Kong and their autonomous nature under one country, two systems, back when the U.K.-Sino pact was signed. The CCP, Chinese Communist Party, are in violation now of the Sino-U.K. pact.
Madam Speaker, this bill, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 is more proof that we can come together, as Republicans and Democrats, to address the generational threat by the Chinese Communist Party and champion American values.
Whether it be the Muslim population of the Uyghurs, whether it be the Tibetan population who have been persecuted, and the Dalai Lama, who is in exile, to the Christians who are persecuted in China by the Communist Party, this bill will help hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their atrocities and will show the world, including the Uyghur Muslim American community, that the United States Congress will not tolerate these appalling human rights violations. We will always stand for human rights across the globe.
And the one thing I respect about our committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, is that we stand together when it comes to our foreign policy. As Chairman Engel often says, partisanship stops at the water's edge. And when it comes to human rights, we stand with our Founding Fathers and what they stood for in fighting oppression and tyranny and for democracy and freedom.
That is why, today, we stand with the Uyghur Muslim population in China. And for all those listening in China and, particularly, to those members of the Chinese Communist Party who are probably watching this broadcast on C-SPAN, we are watching you today. We will not back down. We will talk about this until it stops, and it will stop, hopefully, in our lifetime. It won't stop this Congress, but it must stop.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, having no further speakers, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.
The bill before us represents a number of different bills in the Senate and the House, all of which have been blended together. All of these bills contain important complementary measures to counter one of the most important human rights violations of the present day, detention of over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang Province of China.
In particular, as chair of the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, back in February of last year, I joined with our ranking member, Ted Yoho, and Congressman Connolly and Congresswoman Wagner in introducing the Uighur Act. That legislation added to this bill the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities found to have committed gross human rights abuses against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups and other persons in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.
This bill, I should point out, is not one that just expresses the view of Congress; not one that just demands reports be issued by the State Department to refocus the world on what is going with the Uyghurs and others. This bill imposes sanctions on those responsible.
The Chinese Communist Party has sought to erase the distinct Uyghur Muslim culture and religious traditions through mass detentions, re-
education, and a coordinated campaign called ``Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism'' launched in 2014. Thanks to leaked Chinese Communist Party documents, we now know the impetus of this campaign came from the highest levels of the party.
In April of 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping ordered party officials to show ``absolutely no mercy'' in using the ``organs of dictatorship'' to suppress Muslim minorities. More than a million Uyghurs have been imprisoned. And they have been imprisoned because, in the words of the Chinese Communist Party, ``their thinking has been infected by unhealthy thoughts.''
It appears, according to the Chinese Communist Party, a dedication to religion or to freedom and democracy is unhealthy and justifies incarceration.
Along with the re-education camps, the Strike Hard campaign has also involved high-tech surveillance and monitoring of the Uyghurs, monitoring and suppressing Muslim religious practice, including funeral practices, and suppression of the Uyghur language.
And the party has acted beyond the borders of China, intimidating Chinese Muslim minorities who are living abroad, preventing them, including some who are permanent residents of the United States, from leaving the Xinjiang region.
The legislation before us is an important start, but it is just a start in our efforts to counter Chinese repression of its Muslim minorities.
I think I have already highlighted the sanctions in this bill. In particular, the bill requires the President to block assets of and deny and revoke visas with respect to any foreign person, including a Chinese Government official, who are determined to be responsible for the suppression and inhumane treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Province.
So I want to thank Chairman Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who has put together the most bipartisan committee in either House of Congress; Ranking Member McCaul, who has been an important part of that; Speaker Pelosi, who spoke to us earlier; our colleagues Chris Smith and Tom Suozzi, who have spoken to us earlier as well; Senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez; my colleague in running the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, Ted Yoho; as well as Gerry Connolly, Ann Wagner, and everyone else who has been involved in the legislation.
I hope that we will see Muslim countries particularly in the world--
but all countries--be willing to stand up to Beijing and speak out against this human rights travesty.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3744. the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020. I was proud to join Congressman Chris Smith to introduce an earlier version of this important legislation at the beginning of last year and I'm glad to that we are finally able to get this legislation across the finish line today.
As a senior Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and a committed defender of human rights, I have watched over the years as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) routinely mistreats its people. The list of abuses is too long to recount here but it spans every sector of human life from religious freedom, to due process protections, to press freedom and freedom of assembly, to China's notorious population policies. Pretty much every freedom in our Bill of Rights is lacking in China.
Religious freedom, specifically, is a longstanding issue. The CCP seems to think that religion is a fundamental enemy. Not only are Christians hounded and mistreated, but Falun Gong practitioners are brutally persecuted, with many having their organs harvested involuntarily.
That brings us to the situation in Xinjiang and the Orwellian nightmare faced by Uyghur Muslims there today. As the problem has gotten worse and more facts have come out, the situation has become clear. China imprisons somewhere between one and three million Uyghurs in concentration camps where they undergo indoctrination and forced labor. Many are tortured. For Uyghurs outside the camps, the CCP also makes life difficult, subjecting them to intense surveillance and policing. Notably, Uyghurs both in and outside the camps are made to eat foods forbidden to Muslims and forced to abandon other practices of their faith. The Party even pursues Uyghurs in other countries by attempting to control their behavior through threats against family members still in China and by pressuring other countries to send them back to China.
No one deserves to live with this kind of persecution which is why this malicious treatment of the Uyghurs by the CCP must brought to an end. We all wish to see the day when China behaves like, and can be treated as, a normal country. Until that time, we delude ourselves if we treat it like one. That is why we must enact the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 3744.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution 965, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question are postponed.
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