Michael McCaul

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, sadly, we live in a world where crimes against humanity still occur. We have seen two declared genocides in just the last 20 years--in Darfur in 2004, and by ISIS in 2016. We have seen the horrific ethnic cleanings against the Rohingya in Burma. We have seen the atrocities committed by Assad against his own people in Syria. But bringing the criminals behind these massacres to justice can be difficult. That is why 35 years ago, we enacted the State Department's Rewards program. It authorizes the Secretary of State to offer rewards for the arrest or conviction of some of the most dangerous people in the world. Originally written to be used against international terrorists, the successful program has since been expanded to include drug traffickers, war criminals, and perpetrators of genocide. As the world changes and as the international criminals evolve, we need to make sure this important program evolves with them. And that is why I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting the War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act. Mr. Speaker, the bill makes clear that these rewards are not just meant to support international tribunals. They can also be used to bring these dangerous criminals to justice here in the United States, under United States law. Mr. Speaker, I thank the author of this bill, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), and my good friend, Chairman Engel, for considering this bill today, which deserves our support. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Eliot Engel, Representatives Green, Bilirakis, French Hill, and so many of my other colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this important measure. Austin Tice dedicated his life to service. From his time in the Marine Corps to his reporting on the brutal civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria, he lived to improve the lives of others. Think about it: Austin went to Syria to document some of the most brutal crimes against humanity so the world would see it, to expose what Assad has done to his own people to the world, and the price he had to pay for that is to be put into a Syrian prison. It is far past time that we repay Austin for his service, not only to our country, but to the world to expose these war crimes, to expose what was happening over there, and the courage he had to go over there to photograph. By bringing him home to his friends and his family, that is the way we pay him back. We have to use every tool at our disposal within the United States Government to bring him home to his family. Again, I want to thank all those involved, and in particular, Congressman Green, who represents the family, whom we have talked to extensively. This is one of those measures that is really an emotional one from the heart because we are talking about the life of a patriot who is trapped in a very bad prison in Syria overseas and cannot get out, and it has been 8 years--8 years, for God's sake, Mr. Speaker. It is time to bring Austin home. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, hosting the Olympics is an honor that indicates the host country's legitimacy on the world stage, but unfortunately, this honor has been handed to governments who misuse it time and again. We cannot let the Olympic games become a tool for corrupt and malign governments to conceal their behavior and portray themselves in a positive light. We know that the CCP will use international participation in the Olympics to normalize its atrocities. They have done it once before. At the very least, we should ensure that American athletes have the opportunity to at least be informed and to protect themselves and their personal privacy. We have all traveled, as Members of Congress, across the globe to oppressive governments. Many of us have been under surveillance in hostile governments like Russia and China and other countries. This bill simply allows for our athletes to have the same courtesy, to be briefed in advance about the threats that they may face while they are in the host country at the Olympics in China. Again, I want to thank the gentleman from New York for his support; Chairman Engel, my dear friend, for cosponsoring the bill, along with Representatives Sherman, Spanberger, and Phillips. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for his support, and Chairman Engel, once again. The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics were a triumph for the China Communist Party and a significant blow for human rights. While the CCP aired lavish television spectacles for the world to see, they were evicting people from their homes, arresting activists, and harassing foreign journalists. Now, 12 years later, human rights abuses have only escalated in China. The CCP is currently oppressing anywhere from 1 to 3 million ethic minorities in Xinjiang. These prison camps are described as oppressive with harsh labor conditions, brainwashing, and even forced sterilizations and abortions. The Department of Defense has compared them to concentration camps. At the same time, the CCP continues to crack down on the people of Hong Kong for simply asking for the freedoms they were promised. And we should never forget the role the CCP played in the COVID-19 pandemic. In an attempt to hide the truth from the world and cover up their own culpability in allowing what could have been a regional epidemic, they allowed it to turn into a global pandemic. The CCP destroyed lab samples and threatened and arrested doctors and journalists who were simply just trying to report the truth. However, even with all this happening, Beijing is still set to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee has shown their lack of concern for the CCP's escalating human rights violations, whether it be the Uighur Muslims, the Tibetan monks or the Christian population. They are even refusing to discuss moving the games and have refused to use the upcoming games to simply put pressure on the CCP to stop their attacks on human rights. Just like they did in 2008, the CCP will try to use games, including American athletes, to whitewash their history and improve their image. Today, there is no structure to prepare our athletic delegations for this threat. That is why Chairman Engel and I introduced the American Values and Security in International Athletics Act. This bipartisan bill would direct the State Department to establish a briefing program on human rights violations and personal privacy concerns American athletes will face in countries that denigrate human rights, like China. So when we send our American athletes to represent us in authoritarian countries that flagrantly abuse human rights, those athletes deserve to know exactly what is happening. Then they can make an informed decision about their own participation, particularly as we prepare for the 2022 games. Mr. Speaker, this is the 40th anniversary of the United States boycott on the Moscow Olympics. At that time, in support of President Carter's boycott against the Soviet Union, famous sports journalist Howard Cosell said: It seemed absolutely wrong to me to let the Soviet Union use our athletes and our technology capabilities to broadcast their perverse propaganda to every corner of the globe. I agree with Howard Cosell. Mr. Speaker, we need to come together again to raise awareness for the next winter Olympics in China. Silence is not an option. And this bipartisan bill is an important step to ensure the United States Olympians, many of whom are icons and adored by our children as role models, to make sure that they are educated about where they are competing when they go abroad to China. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close if the gentleman from New York has no further speakers. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in closing, as my colleagues and I have been speaking on this bill for the last 10 minutes, over 300,000 pounds of plastic has entered our oceans. It is amazing to think about that, just in the 10 minutes we have been speaking here today. Reversing this trend and preventing plastic from choking our oceans will require this coordinated global response that is both practical, innovative, measurable, and, quite frankly, it is the right thing to do for our future generations. With the PLASTICS Act, we will be taking a huge large step in that direction. We have a duty to protect future generations from the repercussions of today's waste. I also strongly support ongoing efforts to ensure final passage of Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, which includes components of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their great bipartisan work. I also thank my dear chairman, Eliot Engel, and the gentleman from New York. Chairman Engel has been a dear friend of mine in this Congress. We are going to be sad to see him go, but I know he has bright aspirations for his future, and we look forward to celebrating with him. And one way we can celebrate this is by passing the PLASTICS Act. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York and Chairman Engel for their support. Mr. Speaker, over 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the oceans each year. That is the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic being dumped out every single minute. According to the United Nations Environment Program, if no change is enacted, our oceans could contain more plastic bags than fish by 2050. Mismanaged plastic waste in our oceans and communities can take centuries to decompose. That threatens economic development, hurts marine life, and threatens health systems around the world. Reversing the trend of increased plastic waste in our oceans will require a coordinated global response. It is important to note that just 10 river systems carry an estimated 90 percent of river-based plastic waste to the ocean. China contributes the largest share of this mismanaged waste, followed by developing countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. That is why Chairman Engel and I introduced the PLASTICS Act. This legislation elevates the United States to a leadership role in international efforts to reduce and safely manage plastic waste. The PLASTICS Act will allow America to do more to help build the capacity of developing countries to manage their waste. And it will help prevent more waste from spilling into the ocean on the scale that it is today. The PLASTICS Act elevates ongoing efforts by USAID, and it prioritizes new partnerships between the private sector and the U.S. Development Finance Corporation. This will allow us to leverage additional financing for companies putting these waste management practices into place in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that yesterday the United States Development Finance Corporation announced its Ocean Plastics Initiative, based on this bill, and it is exactly what this bill calls for. This initiative aims to catalyze $2.5 billion in the private sector infrastructure investments aimed at reducing plastic waste and marine debris. By elevating the role of women and marginalized populations in these initiatives, we can spur economic development and opportunity across the globe. Our work to combat plastic waste is an investment in the health of our oceans and our communities, not just for ourselves, but also for future generations. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the ranking member, Mr. Walden, from Oregon for his steadfast support on this issue. I want to thank the chairman for getting to this point where we are back on the floor, and the Energy and Commerce Committee, in general, for its support of this bill 4 years ago and, now, a 4-year reauthorization. As the founder and co-chair of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, I have met with countless cancer patients and advocates who have asked me for one thing: hope. They want meaningful hope, something realistic and something tangible, better cures, safer treatment, and more research dollars. So, alongside my colleagues, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Kelly, and Ms. Speier, we have used the Childhood Cancer Caucus to produce that hope. This caucus has yielded tangible results for the hundreds of thousands of patients, advocates, and parents who were just hoping for better results. When we first started this caucus over a decade ago, there were only two new drugs developed to specifically treat pediatric cancer in the prior 20 years. I would talk to these children and their parents, and they would tell me that the cancer just had no treatment, or if there was a treatment, it was of a drug developed in the 1960s or older. Many of these drugs were meant to be used by adults, and their intent was to kill the cancer before it killed the person. That is why Mr. Butterfield and I worked together to pass the original Creating Hope Act in 2011, to try to create a market to get more pediatric cancer and rare disease drugs approved in this country. Specifically, our bill created a voucher award within the FDA where companies that developed rare pediatric disease drugs have priority on future products that could save kids' lives. I am happy to report that this program has been very successful. Since 2014 when the first voucher was issued, 22 new drugs for rare diseases in kids have been approved by the FDA, including two drugs for childhood cancers, with more expected on the way. I have seen, firsthand, the wonders of this program. In September of 2013, a constituent of mine named Rex Ryan was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma at just 18 months old. After exhausting all options, Rex was blessed to have received a novel new drug that was developed and approved in part because of the incentive of the Creating Hope Act. Rex is now cancer free and a healthy third grader saved by the drug developed because of this program. It is for Rex and all the other children who have been saved because of this program and will be saved because of this program that I stand here today in support of the bill. I think, most remarkably, of a dear friend of mine, Dr. Allison from MD Anderson Cancer Center, who had a childhood cancer clinical trial going and was able to use the voucher program to obtain FDA approval for a treatment now called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a breakthrough in cancer treatment not just for children but for all adults. He got the Nobel Prize in medicine for it. While this bill before us today reauthorizes the program for another 4 years, I would hope to see, when we come back again, that this program will be made permanent. So I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Congress to achieve that goal. I appreciate the support from the advocates and members of my team, especially my outgoing legislative director, Thomas Rice, who spent countless hours meeting with the advocates, the brains behind the operation, and Nancy Goodman, who gave us all these great ideas to develop four major pieces of legislation. I can't thank Thomas enough for all his great work. Together, we can and will defeat childhood cancer. It is vital that we keep this program alive so that we keep hope alive for the hundreds of thousands of children and their families who are waiting for the big break of a treatment.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, in 2002, I formed the Internet Crimes Against Children unit in the attorney general's office in the State of Texas to stop internet trafficking and stop the exploitation of children online. Since that day, we have put thousands behind bars. This is a worldwide scourge. It happens on an international level. But what is, again, most disturbing, is it is happening now in our backyards. It is happening in suburbia America. A case like Courtney's is so compelling because you never thought it would be possible in a town like Katy, Texas, but it happens, and it is happening all over this Nation. The numbers from the FBI are revealing and it is an industry. It is a sick industry that is run by businessmen; that is run by lawyers, an industry that exploits our children. I have talked to many veterans with PTSD, but I can't imagine the post-traumatic stress of a victim of human trafficking who has been violated over and over and over again, offending the deepest ounce of human dignity where there is no dignity left, where they had to put their mind in such a place--almost like Stockholm syndrome--where they can survive the horrors that they are living in day in and day out. Madam Speaker, this has to stop. This bill will help, but this Congress and the next Congress, we really need to ramp up our efforts to take this issue square on, to put these monsters out of their business and say they are closed forever, and to put them behind bars for a very, very long time. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank many in my district who have worked hard on this issue: Houston 20's Jenn Hohman, and Austin 20's Lisa Knapp. These women are warriors for the cause against human trafficking. I also want to thank the Harris County human trafficking task force for their great work on this effort. They are truly one of the models for the Nation. When the officials from Homeland Security came down from the Blue Campaign, they told me this is one of the most effective operations we have seen in the United States, and it is a model for the Nation. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this meaningful, necessary legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the trafficking of people, whether for sexual exploitation or forced labor, is an affront to human dignity. It is, as the gentleman from Texas said, a modern-day form of slavery that oppresses nearly 25 million people around the world, including right here in the United States and in my home State of Texas. A few years ago, a mother from Katy, Texas, in my district, reached out to me with one request: ``Please help me bring my daughter home, my daughter, Courtney.'' Courtney was a junior in high school. She was on the swim team and attended church regularly. She was groomed, unfortunately, by traffickers. She was groomed at her high school. Many parents think, ``This can't happen to my child,'' and not in suburbia in Houston, but just ask Courtney's family that question. The traffickers embedded themselves in the high school. They operated through Courtney's classmates. Like leeches, they latched onto Courtney's vulnerabilities, and they used them against her. It was then that she was swept up into this nightmare and used like property. We may expect things like this out of foreign countries, but not in our backyards. Thankfully, after several months of work with law enforcement, Courtney returned home to her family. I was there when she came home. She had battle scars. She had lost so much weight. She had just about died. It was quite a reunion with a mother and father and their daughter who had been gone for almost 2 years. She now dedicates her time to raising awareness and educating others on the signs of human trafficking. Her work earned her a spot on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. I cannot be more proud of her work and her inspiration to me and her contributions to the council. It is because of survivors like Courtney and the countless others that Chairman Engel and I introduced the LIFT Act to continue our committee's 20-year commitment to combating human trafficking. The LIFT Act will help our law enforcement officers and diplomatic officials communicate better so we can then root out more human traffickers and bring them to justice. I was surprised to find out that when someone applies for a visa at an embassy or a consulate and they are denied on human trafficking grounds, that that information is not currently given to our law enforcement officers, to the FBI. The LIFT Act also gives a voice to survivors of human trafficking so that brave people like Courtney will remain a central part of the policy discussion. By reauthorizing the survivor-led U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking through 2025, which is what this bill does, we are empowering survivors and sharpening our tools to counter traffickers. I am very grateful for the support this bill has received from the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Madam Speaker, the evil of slavery was abolished in this country many years ago. We are still living up to the principles of our Founding Fathers that all men are created equal. We are still bringing this country to racial and social justice. It is still something we strive for. We must end this form of human slavery today, and this bill is a start. We have a lot more work to do but the numbers are very perplexing. In fact, the numbers are very disturbing, the numbers of young children, both little girls and boys, who are swept up into this awful system. I have worked most of my life as a Federal prosecutor on these issues and now in Congress. I put the worst of the worst behind bars for these crimes where they deserve to spend a very long time in our prison system. They are the lowest of the low. So with this bill today, we renew and strengthen our commitment to stand with the exploited and the children against their oppressors. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), an esteemed member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the vice chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and also a cosponsor of this bill.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I reiterate the vision of both Mr. Connolly and Mr. Chabot for introducing this bill, and the discussions I believe, as the gentleman stated from Virginia, took place 2 years ago, well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who introduced the bill and is the coauthor.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, as this painful year has hammered home: viruses and pandemics know no borders. The bipartisan Global Health Security Act reaffirms our commitment to promoting global health security as a core issue of national security. This bill--and I want to thank my friend, Gerry Connolly and Steve Chabot, who, I am not sure if he will be able to speak or not--but I want to thank them for bringing this bill forward. This bill directs the President to establish an interagency review council that will support our executive branch agencies and ensure coordination between their efforts. It also requires the designation of a lead official as the United States coordinator for Global Health Security, who will be responsible for coordinating the U.S. response to global health crises across agencies. As our country continues to fight COVID-19 and this pandemic, we must make sure our preparations to fight future threats to the health and security of Americans are as efficient and effective as they can be. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the sponsors of the bill, Mr. Connolly and Mr. Chabot, for their leadership in supporting and introducing this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. The thing I really enjoy about the Foreign Affairs Committee, as I know the Speaker would agree with me, is that it is bipartisan. I would say that the majority of bills passed out of our committee--in fact, I would say no other committee has passed more bipartisan bills than the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, as it should be. I thank my good friend Joaquin Castro from Texas. Of course, Madam Speaker, you are from Texas. We seem to have a trifecta here today from Texas. But I will say Chairman Engel has been a great partner to me, working together as a chairman and ranking member should on a national security committee. We should put the interests of the Nation above partisan politics, and that has been our charge and our duty. I am, quite frankly, proud to say that is how we have conducted ourselves in this Congress. It is very gratifying, Madam Speaker, to close out this session of Congress, before this very tumultuous election cycle and very divisive time in our politics and our American history, but for me to be able to close this out in a very bipartisan way, that, I think, is what most Americans out there want from their leaders in the Congress. I thank the gentleman from Texas and the Speaker from Texas for your bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am prepared to close. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, Brian Fitzpatrick, for his work in the FBI. I thought it was very compelling, the testimony about putting children's lives as the highest priority as he served as a very distinguished special agent in the Bureau and now serves in this Congress. I think Georgetown University ranked him as the most bipartisan Member of this body, of the House. I take pride in being on the top of the list, but Mr. Fitzpatrick's service in this House has been to issues of importance to Americans. Most Americans don't want us bickering. Most Americans want us working across the aisle to get good things done for the people of this country. The gentleman has demonstrated that every day I have witnessed him in office in this Congress and since he has served in office. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Castro for his leadership. Finally, Madam Speaker, being a Catholic myself, I do want to thank Catholic Relief Services and the development community for their work on this bill, working so hard to get to this point where we are now on the floor of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress getting ready to pass such an important bill that will save so many children's lives. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Castro and Representative Fitzpatrick for their leading efforts on the Global Child Thrive Act, which we are considering here today. Although children have not faced as many direct health effects from COVID-19, the follow-on effects of the pandemic endanger the welfare of countless vulnerable children around the world. Over the summer, the U.N. estimated that an additional 10,000 children are dying every month due to hunger caused by COVID-19. This pandemic is also reversing hard-fought gains we have made in combating other diseases, increasing access to education, and reducing extreme poverty. This legislation supports efforts to integrate early childhood development into existing interventions on nutrition, education, maternal health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. It also expands the role of the Special Advisor for Assistance to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in coordinating U.S. assistance and improving interagency cooperation. This bill, in short, Madam Speaker, protects the most vulnerable in our society, our children, from hunger and disease, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), the coauthor of the bill. An esteemed member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the gentleman, again, working with my good friend, Congressman Castro, has brought this measure forward today.

Mr. McCAUL

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jacobs).

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the chairman, for his steadfast support for human rights across the world. The gentleman and the next speaker have been on this issue, really, as visionary leaders, I would say, the two strongest in the House of Representatives representing both sides of the aisle, and I thank him for that. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, who has been working on these issues along with Chairman McGovern for decades.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I want to start this debate with a simple truth that we cannot afford to forget: Truly free trade cannot involve slave labor. Today, the Chinese Community Party is using the forced labor of the Uyghurs and other minorities to help bankroll its cultural genocide against those very same groups. The repression taking place right now in Xinjiang is breathtaking in its scope and in its brutality. It involves the detention of 1 to 3 million people in concentration camps, Madam Speaker. It involves surveillance and attempted brainwashing on a massive scale. It involves breaking up families and taking children from their parents. It involves forced sterilization and, Madam Speaker, forced abortions. This should be a terrifying warning to the world, to China's neighbors, and to the American people that the Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally focused on expanding its power, its control, and its authoritarian style of government. It views things that it does not control, like religion, cultural identity, and the yearning of all people for freedom, as threats that must be destroyed. Because we have drawn the CCP into our most essential supply chains, it can hold our national security hostage while it uses U.S. consumers to subsidize its atrocities. As many as one in five cotton garments globally could be tainted with Uyghur slave labor. In July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a 13-ton shipment of human hair--Madam Speaker, human hair--that originated in Xinjiang's forced labor system. We haven't heard about human hair since the Nazis and the concentration camps of the war that my father fought in, World War II. It is brazen, and it is sickening. We must refuse to be complicit, financially or otherwise, in the CCP's crimes against the Muslim Uyghur. For that reason, I support this bill before us today. I must also point out the abuses in this province are not only one small part of the grave and growing threat that the Chinese Communist Party poses to the interests, the values, and the security of the United States. That threat is global and has military, economic, public health, and philosophical aspects. I know that many on the other side of the aisle share my concerns. I, unfortunately, regret that, during this Congress, the majority has not given the CCP threat even one-tenth of the time they have put into their partisan efforts to bring down this President. We were told that the China Task Force was going to be bipartisan, Madam Speaker, and at the last minute, the majority pulled out. For the past 4 months, I have served as chairman of the China Task Force. This task force, again, was supposed to be bipartisan because I believe this is not a Republican or Democrat issue. Confronting the generational threat that the CCP poses should be a bipartisan issue. It is an American issue against the greatest national security threat to the United States of America. I believe this failure of perspective needs to change. In our work on the China Task Force, we have met with 125 people from both sides of the aisle to gain better insight into our relationship and our foreign policy, as we speak here from the Foreign Affairs Committee, how we need to treat the Chinese Communist Party from a foreign policy standpoint. This, again, is an American issue, not Republican or Democrat. This report coming out October 1 will include 400 recommendations, including 100 pieces of legislation that have bipartisan support like the bill before us today. So, Madam Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Then, once we get past this election, Madam Speaker, let us come together on both sides and analyze objectively our foreign policy with the Chinese Communist Party and address the bipartisan bills that will be recommended by the task force to address the Chinese Communist Party's malign activities throughout the world. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, in recent years, the world has stood by idly as the Chinese Communist Party rounded up more than a million--probably a lot more than that--ethnic minorities into concentration camps where they are tortured, brainwashed, and forced into labor. This is all part of a deliberate program by the CCP to wipe out their ethnic identity, their religion, their culture, anything that might compete with the Communist Party for their loyalties and affection. We have a moral duty today to speak out against these horrifying crimes against humanity and against the Uyghurs and, as the Speaker mentioned, against the Tibetans and Christians as well, who are persecuted in the Chinese Communist regime. But we have an even greater duty to avoid funding this genocide by paying for slave labor in Xinjiang. There can no longer be business as usual with China. Madam Speaker, the world is watching. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.