Brad Sherman

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, John R. Lewis honored us with his presence on this floor for over 3 decades. That a man of such courage and such accomplishment would dedicate so much of his life to this House confirmed the decision of all of us to give up our private lives and private measures and to spend our time here in the people's House. Five years ago, I was honored to go to Terri Sewell's hometown of Selma and on the 50th anniversary to walk with John Lewis across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where, 50 years prior to that time, John Lewis had been beaten down and his skull fractured. We walked forward across that bridge with John Lewis, and with the President of the United States, President Barack Obama, to prove that America walks forward, and that the progress that we have made cannot be turned back. Years later, many of us joined John on this floor to make some good trouble when we took over the floor of this House to demand a vote on commonsense gun control. President Barack Obama, when he awarded John the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said: ``Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind; an American who knew that change will not wait for some other person or some other time, whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.'' And that is why I say now is the time to pass what should be called the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. John Lewis was too great a man for us to fail to provide a substantive memorial.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, four amendments, the first delists from U.S. stock exchanges companies where a substantial portion of the audit is not subject to normal oversight by the PCAOB. This is not an anti- China amendment, though it will affect companies in China and Belgium. As chair of the Investor Protection Subcommittee and co-chair of the CPA and Accountants Caucus, it is critical that investors on U.S. stock exchanges have the additional protection that is provided by the PCAOB, and that should apply to companies in China just as it does to companies in Britain, the United States, Canada, et cetera. The second amendment is to prevent a nuclear cooperation agreement from being entered into with a country that fails to sign the additional protocol, which is designed to make sure that their nuclear technology is used only for peaceful purposes. This is aimed at Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince has broadly hinted a desire for nuclear weapons. I join with Mr. Pallone in an amendment that is aimed at Azerbaijani military units that have committed gross human rights violations, and I join with Mr. Malinowski in an amendment that is language from my manager's amendment to the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which passed this House, and that language would prevent U.S. technology from being used to imprison over a million Uighurs.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Rules be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 7440) to impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons involved in the erosion of certain obligations of China with respect to Hong Kong, and for other purposes, and I ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, our work now is to negotiate a new relief bill. So far we have spent trillions of dollars bandaging our economic wounds, yet less than one-half of 1 percent has gone to beat the disease through research on therapeutics and prophylaxes. All hands should be on deck. Every reasonable idea should be tested. But our professional medical researchers are today sitting at home because their non-COVID research has been suspended and our COVID research funding has been modest. The HEROES Act provides $5.5 billion to do this medical research. That is the most important one-quarter of 1 percent of that bill, and we need to fight to expand it in negotiations. Medical research is the best investment we can make for America. It is also the only way we are likely to provide major help for the billions of people who live in poor countries, and it is the best investment that we can make in America's standing in the world. Thomas Edison looked at 3,000 different filaments to invent one practical light bulb. It took him 2 years. We need to test 3,000 different combinations of compounds, and we don't have 2 years.

Mr. SHERMAN

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi), an advocate for human and religious rights.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), an advocate for human rights.

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

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. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, by tradition, the dean of the respective State delegation introduces new Members from their State at a swearing in after a special election. Our dean, the dean of the California delegation, is also the Speaker of the House. And while I have seen her do amazing things, I have never seen her be in two places at the same time. So I have the distinct honor of filling in for her here as dean, and the pleasure of introducing Mike Garcia, the new Member from the 25th Congressional District. The election has, as I noted before, not been certified by the Secretary of State, but there is no dispute about the result. Congressman Garcia was born in 1976, and is a native of Santa Clarita, California, and is a first generation American citizen. Congressman Garcia moved to Saugus, which is now part of the city of Santa Clarita, in 1982 with his mother and stepfather at the age of six. Mr. Garcia received his bachelor's degree in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1998. He was nominated to that academy and to the Navy by our long-time colleague, the former chair of the House Armed Services Committee, our friend, Buck McKeon. He later earned a master of arts in national security policy from Georgetown University. He is a former U.S. naval officer and flew as a pilot in the Navy from 1998 until 2009. After the Navy, Congressman Garcia worked in the aerospace industry, and now owns his own real estate business. Mike is the husband of Rebecca Garcia and the father of Preston, age 13, and Jett, age 3. I represent the district that lies immediately to the south of Mike Garcia, and the gentleman who represents the district immediately to the north is the distinguished minority leader, who I know has additional words to say about our new colleague. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy).

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia), our newest Member.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from California, the Honorable Mike Garcia, be permitted to take the oath of office today. His certificate of election has not arrived, but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard to his election.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, in all of our bills, virtually all the money goes to bandage the economic wounds. We need a greater focus on beating the disease. Workers need paid sick days so they will stay home if they are sick, even if they work for an employer with under 50 or over 500 employees. The Defense Production Act needs to be amended so it can provide for the licensing of new technology, and inventors need to be well compensated if they invent something useful to attack the COVID virus. We have provided money for testing, but only one-quarter of 1 percent of the money we provide in this bill or prior bills has gone for therapeutics, prophylaxes, and vaccines. The clinical medical researchers of this country are sitting at home, because virtually all non-COVID medical research has been suspended. Let's put them to work. Let's learn more of the basic facts of COVID, and let's test every reasonable combination of generic compounds at every stage of the disease. Yes, for a while, we can bind our economic wounds, but ultimately, we need to beat the disease.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, we need to shift from the economic to the biological focus on defeating this disease. Everyone should wear a mask, including you, Mr. President, whenever you might be within 6 feet. And we need to provide free masks to the homeless and others. We need more money for better paid sick leave so all those with symptoms can stay home. And so far, only one-tenth of 1 percent of the coronavirus money has gone for medical research to prevent and treat the virus. Now, I am pleased this bill has money for testing and to develop new tests. The next bill needs $5 billion to research therapeutics.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, over 122,000 cases of coronavirus, otherwise referred to as COVID-19, have been confirmed in the United States since the inception of the outbreak, including more than 5,000 confirmed cases in my home state of California alone. More than two thousand Americans have died as a result of the virus, and many more stand to do so if we do not act quickly to mitigate its spread and address the myriad of medical challenges. While Congress has passed several measures to provide significant amounts of money for research activities at federal agencies, this is not enough. I am disappointed that H.R. 748 does not adequately fund nor provide incentives for, research and development into treatments and vaccines that leverage the expertise of the public and private sectors. Chiefly, the CARES Act fails to adequately support research on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus and at clinical research institutions across the country to pursue all reasonable avenues to develop treatments for the coronavirus, including diagnostic tests, therapies and vaccines. The NIH should have significantly more than $945 million to carry out COVID-19 related research and should also be directed to focus primarily on those possible treatments that are not subject to a patent and thus are not the focus of U.S. pharmaceutical companies. Finally, the Trump administration uses this must-pass relief bill to advance their anti-reproduction rights agenda. The bill gives the Small Business Administration broad discretion to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates and other non-profits serving people with low incomes and deny them benefits under the new small business loan program. Additionally, the bill attaches a harmful Hyde Amendment provision to a state stabilization fund for state, local, and tribal governments providing coronavirus relief. Reproductive health care is essential health care, and Planned Parenthood health centers are a critical component of the health care system. Attempting to limit access to reproductive health care services during a pandemic will only worsen the public health care crisis.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this virus is a machine gun machine-gunning America. This bill provides $2 trillion to bandage some of the wounds. We must stop the machine gun. Less than 1 percent of this bill goes for medical research. Our economic system provides significant incentives to the private sector to research patented drugs, but we should do more. The next bill should provide $5 billion to the NIH to evaluate every reasonable research alternative, particularly those compounds that the private sector will not investigate.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 83 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 84.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chair, regarding the Panetta Amendment, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 63. Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Westerman

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose the amendment and to commend the Chair for including in the PRO Act provisions that will end the free-rider problem caused by so-called right-to-work States. Right-to-work provisions undermine the right to unionize because our basic labor law requires a union to represent all those in the bargaining unit, and everyone in the bargaining unit benefits from the union contract. If you tell people you don't have to join, you don't have to pay the union dues, you don't have to pay a fee and you still get all the benefits, then right-to-work is really code for right to free ride. The result is that States with so-called right-to-work laws have half the private sector unionization rates as other States. It doesn't just hurt those who are in a union because it hurts every wage earner in the whole State. Average wages decline. That is why average wages in so- called right-to-work States are $8,700 less than they are in other States, but it doesn't just affect that whole State. It drives other States to perhaps adopt so-called right-to-work laws in a race to the bottom as they fight for businesses. It even hurts us in California, where we have to compete with low-wage employers in antiunion States. I have been working on this problem for decades. That is why I introduced the Nationwide Right to Unionize Act in the 110th Congress, the 111th Congress, the 112th Congress, the 113th Congress, the 114th Congress, the 115th Congress, and now the 116th Congress each time with dozens of cosponsors. Last Congress I was joined by Elizabeth Warren in the Senate where we introduced our bills together. Last week Senator Warren and I each introduced our bills in the House with 30 original cosponsors and the Senate with 16. The PRO Act is to be commended because it solves this free-rider problem. We had the State Department testify before my subcommittee of Foreign Affairs that so-called right-to-work laws are a violation of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights because the right to organize is a human right, and right-to-work laws make a mockery of that right. I also rise in opposition to the amendment we are going to be dealing with, No. 10 by Mr. Meadows, which is substantively identical to what we are considering now. The Rules Committee in an effort to be incredibly bipartisan has allowed two substantively identical amendments to be presented to this House. They are both substantively identical. They are both equally reprehensible. Defeat this amendment. Pass the bill. End the race to the bottom and raise wages nationwide. A country which even last year saw wages rise just 1 percent more than inflation needs unions. We need the right to organize. Pass the bill.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, on the occasion of his 94th birthday, I rise today to honor Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah, a pioneer in the Indian American community and a Los Angeles civic icon. Since coming to the United States in 1953 as a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Marwah has been a trailblazer. Drawing on an educational pedigree that included fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the University of Illinois, Chicago (where he pursued an MS in Pathology), Howard University (where he completed a two-year program in Doctor in Dental Surgery), and a professorship at the University of Southern California, Dr. Marwah became the first Indian doctor in the United States to obtain a license to practice dentistry. Dr. Marwah also helped make U.S. history through his work on Dalip Singh Saund's congressional campaign. As a young aide to the candidate, Dr. Marwah helped propel Saund to victory in the 1956 election, ushering in the first Sikh American, the first Indian American and the first Asian American ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Being a pioneer, Dr. Marwah has worked to encourage and grow the nascent Sikh American community of Southern California, of which he is a member. For many years, his Baldwin Hills home served as a place of respite for the immigrant community; and Dr. Marwah founded just the third Sikh Temple in the United States, whose location in Hollywood now bears the name ``Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah Square.'' As a friend and advisor of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Dr. Marwah made an indelible mark on Los Angeles civic life. Dr. Marwah was appointed a Los Angeles City Commissioner in 1975 and served for 18 years. He chaired the Cultural Heritage Commission and the Hollywood Art Commission, and he helped to preserve over 300 sites, including the Walk of Fame and the Roosevelt Hotel. As a public servant, a leader in the Indian American community and a philanthropist, Dr. Marwah has made a positive impact on countless people around the world. Dr. Marwah was supported in all these endeavors by his late wife, Kuljit Kaur Marwah, as well as his three daughters and their spouses and grandchildren. I wish my friend Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah a very happy and healthy 94th birthday.