Chris Smith

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, in a Florida abortion clinic, Sycloria Williams delivered a live baby girl at 23 weeks. The clinic owner took the baby, who was gasping for air, cut her umbilical cord, threw her into a biohazard bag, and put the bag in the trash. Heartbroken, Sycloria later had a funeral for her baby girl, who she named Shanice. In Sycloria's home State of Florida, in just 1 year, in 2017, 11 babies were born alive during abortions. Shockingly, only 6 States-- Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas--currently require reporting of children born alive who survive abortion. Why the coverup? Dr. Willard Cates, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Abortion Surveillance Unit, said live births ``are little known because organized medicine, from fear of public clamor and legal action, treats them more as an embarrassment to be hushed up than a problem to be solved. It is like turning yourself in to the IRS,'' he goes on, ``for an audit. What is there to gain? The tendency is not to report because there are only negative incentives.'' Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleagues that Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, one of the few who got caught, was convicted for murder, for killing children who were born alive after attempting abortions. The grand jury described it this way: ``Gosnell had a simple solution for unwanted babies he delivered: He killed them. He didn't call it that. He called it `ensuring fetal demise.' The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors into the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord. He called that `snipping.' '' Mr. Speaker, we have tried the whole year to bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act introduced by Ann Wagner and 191 of us to a vote here in this House. I, again, with my colleagues, appeal to the leadership: These children need protection. The unborn children need protection. Congressmen Andy Biggs and Doug LaMalfa said it so well a few moments ago, that we have such a clearer picture of the unborn as well. Andy said, even without today's technology, he and his wife knew there was a baby. Ultrasound shatters the myth that an unborn child is anything but human, alive, and extremely vulnerable. Mr. Speaker, let's protect the children.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, according to ABC News, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that the ``Dec. 27 attack on the Iraqi base near Kirkuk that killed a U.S. civilian contractor and wounded several U.S. and Iraqi forces . . . was designed and intended to kill, and [Soleimani] approved it. I know that 100 percent.'' General Milley said that the trigger for the drone strike that killed Soleimani was ``clear, unambiguous intelligence indicating a significant campaign of violence against the United States in the days, weeks, and months,'' and that the administration would have been ``culpably negligent'' if it didn't act. Former Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on NBC's Meet the Press that ``whether Soleimani was a terrorist or a general in a military force that was engaged in armed attacks against our people, he was a lawful military objective.'' Mr. Speaker, Soleimani is responsible for killing over 600 Americans and disabling thousands more. He is directly responsible for massive death and injury of innocent civilians in the region. In the last two months alone, he orchestrated 11 attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq-- killing an American contractor and wounding four soldiers--and for the attack on our embassy in Baghdad. After yesterday's classified briefing by America's top diplomatic, military and intelligence leaders, I came away convinced that the action by President Trump was justified, proportionate and above all necessary to protect American lives. That said, it is astonishing that the resolution under consideration by the House today has absolutely no legal power, is non-binding--and by design can neither be signed nor vetoed by the President. Remarkably, the text of H. Con. Res. 83 also sends a mixed message. While purporting to ``terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran. . . .'' the non-binding resolution goes on to say that such a prohibition is null and void if ``such use of the Armed Forces is necessary and appropriate to defend against an imminent armed attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its Armed Forces, consistent with the requirement of the War Powers Resolution.'' Imminent armed attack on our Armed Forces and diplomats is precisely the Trump Administration's justification for the drone strike against Soleimani. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, no president used drone strikes more than President Obama who ordered 542 drone strikes killing an estimated 3,797 people including 324 civilians.''

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, the U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous--impeachment of any president is permitted only for treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. Undoing the will of the people expressed in a free and fair election with the proposed articles of impeachment, totally fails to meet the legal standard prescribed by the U.S. Constitution. Despite hearings and a process that were egregiously flawed and unfair, there is still no direct evidence whatsoever of any crime. Disagreement with or intense dislike for this or any other president of the United States is not now--nor should it ever be--grounds for impeachment.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I want to thank both leaders, but I want to thank Kay Granger for her extraordinary support for legislation that I authored, two bills that are included in this act. I thank Nita Lowey as well, the distinguished chairwoman. The first bill is known as the TICK Act. Twenty-one years ago, in 1998, I introduced the Lyme Disease Initiative Act of 1998. Every 2 years, every Congress, with well over 100 cosponsors, would have a bill that would look to create a national strategy in combating Lyme disease. This legislation includes that strategy, and I am deeply grateful for that. It also is now named after Senator Kay Hagan, who, sadly, died from a tick-borne disease in October. But it provides a national strategy, $150 million authorization for Lyme research, prevention, and treatment programs, and enables additional Federal agencies to step up and coordinate their efforts in the fight against Lyme. As we know from the working group, there are 300,000 new cases every year. The high-end estimate is 437,000 cases. Chronic Lyme is a very serious problem. The NIH recently came out with their new strategy, and I am very grateful to the Trump administration for doing that because there is no real detection capability that is reliable, so the diagnosis is often faulty. There is also the very real problem that there are no therapeutics that can deal with Lyme disease, especially if it is missed in the beginning from a tick bite. Madam Speaker, the second bill has to do with ending neglected tropical diseases, another one of my bills that just passed this House on December 3. We know for a fact that 1.4 billion people are walking around with horrific worms and parasites which, terribly, cause death, but also there is a great deal of morbidity attached to it. Thankfully, this legislation has that bill in its entirety in it, so there is no need to worry about the Senate taking up this bill. It will become law, and I am thankful for that. I had a number of hearings on neglected tropical diseases in Africa and other places, particularly where there is a warm environment. People are walking around with parasites. They are walking around with dengue and all of the other diseases, so I am very grateful for both of those bills.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, Anita Smith is a woman who has made a remarkable and lasting contribution to the global battle against HIV/AIDS, who along with her husband, Shepherd, was instrumental in rallying the faith-based community--in particular, evangelical Christians--to the cause. She has been heralded as an ``early voice'' within the Christian community calling for the need to bring God's love and tangible assistance to those stricken by a disease which all too often-- particularly in the developing world--led to a wasting away of the body, a social ostracism and a lonely death. Anita began her HIV/AIDS work in 1986 with Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy, which became the Children's AIDS Fund in 1996. Vulnerable children were a special focus of her ministry, and to give one example of that, in one year alone her Holiday Gift Program sent over 10,000 presents to AIDS-impacted kids living here in the United States. Knowing that the call to be one's brother's keeper knows no boundries, Anita expanded her work overseas, particularly to Africa. Having become the President of Children's AIDS Fund International--or CAFl--in 1996, she opened CAFI's first clinic in Africa in 2002. Ultimately she established fifteen clinics in Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Malawi. Serving along with Louis Sullivan as the co-chair of President George W. Bush's President's Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS from 2002 to 2006, Anita was also there--and a tenacious advocate--when President Bush undertook one of his greatest lifeworks, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Anita was not only instrumental in garnering Christian support for PEPFAR, but in many respects helped lead the way, as her Africa work was already a shining example of how the faith-based community was effectively responding to the global pandemic. At that time I was serving as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa and Global Health subcommittee, and I saw first hand Anita's passion, wisdom, efficacy and commitment. Hers was the voice of wise counsel and compassion, which helped guide not only the White House, USAID and Congress but my subcommittee as well as we oversaw the work of PEPFAR and USAID. In 2006, my wife Marie and I joined Anita and Shepherd and Marilyn and Ray Ruddy on a trip to Uganda and we saw firsthand how her work was helping to prevent HIV for many while bringing healing and hope to those infected. Today, those clinics which Anita founded serve over 100,000 HIV patients. Anita's clinics have had a reputation for the high retention of patients, high engagement of males--which is oftentimes a hard-to- reach segement of the population in Africa--high adherence to courses of medication treatment and high morale. In sum, more than simply being an early voice, Anita's was a powerful voice which consistently responded ``Here I am, Lord,''--I am available--when she heard the appeal ``Whom shall I send?'' Anita's lifework is an exemplification of Matthew 25--``when I was sick you looked after me.'' Anita Smith is an amazing hero in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Thank you--I say again thank you--Anita.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 517, a resolution by Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul, supporting the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The Global Fund is a financing partnership of governments, private donors, and civil societies that have a shared purpose of ending HIV/ AIDS, TB, and malaria. Since its founding in 2002, the Global Fund is credited with saving millions of lives. Nor is our contribution to combat these diseases limited to the Global Fund. As my colleagues know, since its inception in 2002, the Global Fund has worked with U.S. programs, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which has radically and positively changed the course of health outcomes. President Bush initiated the PEPFAR program, which has been transformative in so many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. According to PEPFAR's latest data, over 18 million lives have been saved due to PEPFAR's intervention. I would note the success in blocking mother-to-child transmission of AIDS during pregnancy. At the end of September 2019, Mr. Speaker, over 2.6 million babies born of HIV-infected mothers have been born HIV free. In addition to President Bush's extraordinary leadership, we should also note the lasting reforms and contributions of Mark Dybul. Mark served as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator from 2006 to 2009, implementing PEPFAR during that critical period. He then went on to serve as the executive director of the Global Fund, instituting reforms such that we stand here today recognizing the critical role that the Global Fund is playing in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Among other things, Mark insisted on the key role that faith-based organizations play in the fight against the spread of HIV. Africa, in particular, is a faith-based continent, and to neglect the role of the churches, as some had advocated at the time, would be to neglect the single most important grassroots institution in the lives of the people on the continent. Mark also spearheaded risk avoidance strategies, including keeping adolescent girls in school, which has proven critical in delaying the onset of sexual activity and reducing the transmission of AIDS. Mr. Speaker, the American people allocate $6 billion a year to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which Congress extended for another 5 years via legislation that I authored with Democrat Barbara Lee and that President Trump signed into law on December 11 last year. Along with funds we dedicate in USAID's global health account to combat AIDS, TB, and malaria, our contributions to PEPFAR and the Global Fund make our global leadership unparalleled in the entire world. And it is not just simply providing funds. It is the leadership and commitment to excellence demonstrated by people such as our Global AIDS Coordinator today, Deborah Birx, and her team, which makes our commitment so impactful. Yet, to sustain its progress, the Global Fund needs at least $14 billion over the next 3 years. To help the fund reach its goal, the U.S. commitment would need to be $1.56 billion. I am happy to say, 2 months ago, the Global Fund held its replenishment meeting, where pledge amounts for the next 3 years were submitted. The United States Government pledged $1.56 billion, with other donors coming to the table to help the Global Fund raise the critically needed money. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sires for his strong support for this legislation and for his leadership on neglected tropical diseases. I thank my other colleagues, Mr. McCaul and, of course, Ms. Bass, who has also been a great supporter of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, are a group of parasitic and bacterial diseases, including worms, which blind, disfigure, and sometimes kill victims from among the world's poorest people, trapping the most marginalized communities in cycles of poverty. There are numerous examples of them, including Chagas, dengue, and leprosy. Can you believe, Mr. Speaker, that there are over 200,000 cases of leprosy in the world today? And there is an intervention. There are drugs that can treat, mitigate, and even cure it, but sometimes people do not get access to them, and that causes serious, serious problems. The worms--and I will get into that in a minute--are absolutely devastating, as well, and they need to be addressed very aggressively. Mr. Speaker, approximately 2 billion people--almost one-third of the world's population--are at risk of contracting an NTD, and over 1.4 billion people are currently afflicted with one or more NTDs. Over the years, Mr. Speaker, I have chaired numerous hearings on this: one in 2013; one in 2016, the global Zika epidemic; and many others, always focusing on the fact that we need to do more. These are preventable, but they are certainly treatable. But if you don't get the drugs and you don't get the intervention, that person is made--and those who are like that person--to suffer horrifically. I introduced the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act in four separate Congresses--2014, 2015, 2017, and again this year--so I deeply appreciate Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul's strong support for this legislation and the leadership for bringing it up today. NTDs have an enormous impact in terms of disease burden and quality of life. It causes the loss of life to about 534,000 people. NTDs surpass both malaria and tuberculosis in causing greater loss of life- years to disability and premature death. They cause disfigurement and disability, often leading to stigma, social discrimination, and societal marginalization. NTDs create an economic burden of billions of dollars through the loss of productivity and the high costs of healthcare required for treatment when it gets, especially, to a critical stage. People afflicted by NTDs are less productive than their healthy counterparts. They jeopardize the ability of people to attend work and school or to produce at full capacity. The social, economic, and health burden of NTDs falls primarily on low- and middle-income countries, where access to safe water, sanitation, and healthcare is limited. At least 100 countries face two endemic NTD burdens, and 30 countries carry six or more endemic neglected tropical diseases. As I said, they can be controlled. They can be prevented and even eliminated, using low-cost, effective, and feasible solutions, especially when treated early. Research and development efforts are immediately needed for all NTDs, especially those for which no treatment currently exists. Recent data published by the WHO confirm that, in 2018, more than 1 billion people were treated for at least one of five neglected tropical diseases. Not well understood, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that neglected tropical diseases are infecting large numbers of vulnerable people--especially children--in developed countries, including the United States. Of course, these include West Nile virus, dengue fever, and, most recently, Zika. An article published in the medical journal The Lancet scrutinized this emerging threat and was titled, ``Neglected Tropical Diseases: No Longer Someone Else's Problem.'' The article references world-renowned NTD expert Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine, who, I note parenthetically, twice testified at hearings that I chaired. I read his book--and I read it not once, but twice. It is a wake-up call to what these horrible diseases do. But he estimates that more than half of the 20 million Americans living in extreme poverty are infected with at least one neglected tropical disease. That is right here in the United States of America. The End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act supports the treatment, control, and elimination of NTDs primarily by ensuring that USAID's NTD Program effectively integrates treatment, control, and elimination efforts with other development issues, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, water and sanitation, and education. It also directs, as my good friend Mr. Sires pointed out a moment ago, the U.S. Government to advocate for increased efforts to address NTDs among international institutions such as the U.N., World Health Organization, and World Bank. Let's not forget that of the 14 most common NTDs, roughly 80 percent of infections are caused by soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis. Soil-transmitted helminths are a group of three parasitic worms-- roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms--that afflict more than 1 billion people worldwide, including 600 million school-age children, of whom more than 300 million suffer from severe morbidity. Schistosomiasis is another helminth infection affecting at least 220 million people in developing countries, and the World Health Organization estimates that 90 percent of those individuals are in sub- Saharan Africa. The benefits of deworming are immediate and enduring. A rigorous, randomized controlled trial has shown that school-based deworming treatment reduces absenteeism by 25 percent. School-based deworming also benefits young siblings and other children who live nearby but are too young to be treated, leading to large cognitive improvements equivalent to half a year of schooling. Let me also point out to my colleagues that the treatment for worms is simple and cost-effective. Treatment for hookworm, for example, in Tanzania costs about 4 cents per treatment to knock this terrible disease out of the intestinal tract. Yet one-off deworming treatment is not enough, as, without sanitary and hygiene behavioral changes, people will get reinfected. What we need to do, and what this bill does, is to integrate our USAID deworming programs with our WaSH programs--water, sanitation, and health--coupled with our nutrition interventions. Let me just also make a point that needs to be underscored with exclamation points. There is a very, very robust public-private partnership that USAID leads with pharmaceutical industry companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck. And, of course, my friend in the chair and my friend managing the bill on the Democrat side know, because these companies hail from the great State of New Jersey--Merck in Rahway, for example--every U.S. taxpayer dollar invested is leveraged with $26 in donated medicines, resulting in $22 billion worth of donated medicine, which is extraordinary. I don't know of any other health program where the pharmaceuticals have stepped up like this to say: We are not going to sell you these drugs; we are going to donate them. We also have helped train 6.5 million individuals in countries around the world to fight NTDs, helping them build and strengthen health systems. So we are, I think, making a difference. We need to do more. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the distinguished ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 546. I want to thank Mr. Sires for authoring this very important resolution, which reiterates that Russia should not be permitted to rejoin the Group of Eight summits until Putin's flagrant aggression radically changes. Since the Russian invasion in 2014, Ukraine has been embroiled in a battle for territorial sovereignty. For 6 years, Russia has illegally occupied the Crimean Peninsula and supported separatist fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine. For over a decade, Russia has also illegally occupied the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia, which constitute 20 percent of Georgia's territory. Mr. Speaker, I visited Tbilisi within a week after Putin's invasion into South Ossetia when the thought was they might even go the rest of the way into Tbilisi, and I can say I saw firsthand the IDPs--the internally displaced persons--the refugees, the loss of life, and people who were wounded; and, again, it was all reminiscent of the bad old days of the Soviet Union now being replicated by Vladimir Putin. Putin has violated fundamental principles of international law, and he has done so with impunity. He has refused to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors and denied the standards of democratic societies. These invasions and occupations have displaced thousands of ethnic Ukrainians and Georgians and resulted in severe human rights abuses against both populations. Moreover, Russia's meddling in the democratic elections of the United States and our allies throughout Europe have further demonstrated Putin's complete disrespect for the values and beliefs shared by other members of the Group of Seven. This resolution condemns Russia's occupation of Crimea and other destabilization efforts in eastern Ukraine, reaffirms U.S. support for Ukraine's territory and sovereignty, and admonishes Putin's assaults on democratic processes around the world. Most importantly, this legislation establishes that Russia should continue to be suspended from the Group of Seven until Putin adheres to the standards of democratic societies. Again, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend and colleague from New Jersey for authoring this important legislation. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), who is the ranking member.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 585, which calls for the protection of the Good Friday Agreement and any Brexit deal that may come to fruition. I congratulate the bill's sponsor, Tom Suozzi from New York, for this important initiative. The Good Friday Agreement brought resolution to the decades-long violent conflict known as The Troubles. The signing of the Good Friday Agreement 20 years ago was truly historic, extraordinarily difficult to achieve, a remarkable framework for peace, and the hope for the beginning of reconciliation. In its most important provisions, the agreement launched a series of challenging protocols by which the leaders of the nationalist and unionist communities in Northern Ireland agreed to strive for better governance and a peaceful solution of differences. It was characterized by prisoner releases, new government structures, British demilitarization of the North, the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, and systemic police reform. In terms of realizing peace, consider this: In the 30 years between 1969 and 1998, approximately 3,500 people were killed in political violence, while in the 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement, fewer than 100 have lost their lives due to intersectarian violence--though there was also the ongoing phenomenon of intrasectarian killings attributable to internal disputes among paramilitary groups. Mr. Speaker, there is a broad bipartisan consensus on peace for Northern Ireland, dating back to the integral role played by President Bill Clinton and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in the negotiation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Congressman Suozzi's resolution, introduced with Peter King as the lead Republican--and I am proud, like Mr. Sires, to be a cosponsor-- reflects this bipartisan interest. I, myself, Mr. Speaker, have personally chaired 16 congressional hearings and markups of legislation on human rights issues in Northern Ireland, most of them with a special focus on police reform and the need to establish a public, independent judicial inquiry into state-sponsored collusion in the murder of human rights attorney Patrick Finucane and others who were the victims of political assassinations on both sides of the divide. Mr. Speaker, I also sponsored an amendment that resulted in suspending all U.S. support for and exchanges with the then-British police force in Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Vetting standards for RUC officers were implemented and then enforced. President Bush was then able to certify that human rights principles were part of police training going forward, both in the RUC and in its reformed successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Thus, I, too, like many in this Chamber, have a strong personal interest in the subject of Congressman Suozzi's resolution. Also, I am extremely worried about the negative implications of a hard Brexit. This 1998 agreement has kept the peace on the island of Ireland for over two decades by maintaining a soft border between the two entities. A Brexit deal that results in a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland could very possibly instigate another outbreak of violence. The fact is that armed paramilitary groups still exist and could reengage in killing, should there be a sustained backsliding attributable to the failure to achieve an equitable Brexit resolution. It is vital to the safety and security of Ireland that any potential Brexit deal effectively address the Irish backstop issue and maintain all components of the Good Friday Agreement. This resolution affirms this as the U.S. position on Brexit, and I commend its author. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank the Speaker for her very eloquent remarks and for her tenacity in promoting human rights and respect for the rule of law in all of China, including and especially with today's focus on Xinjiang, where, unfortunately, Xi Jinping is conducting massive, massive crimes against humanity against the Muslim Uighurs. So I thank her for that leadership. I thank Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, Brad Sherman, and Ranking Member Ted Yoho for their deep and abiding commitment to the suffering people of Xinjiang as well. I would also like to express my special thanks to the 128 bipartisan cosponsors of my bill, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, H.R. 649, comprehensive human rights legislation that I introduced earlier this year with lead Democratic cosponsor Tom Suozzi to address the massive crimes against humanity committed by the Chinese Government against the Uighurs. The legislation would require the administration to categorize and report on the human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Communist Party each and every day, take specific steps to sanction Chinese officials for these abuses, especially through the use of the Magnitsky Act, and stop, to the greatest extent possible, the Chinese Government's efforts to create a high-tech police and surveillance state. With endorsement of our bill 12 months ago and cosponsorship by the Speaker herself, as well as endorsement by the Washington Post, which said, a full year ago, ``This has become''--that is to say, the situation in Xinjiang--``one of the world's most urgent human rights crises. Congress should pass the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.'' Today the Senate bill is before us, and I encourage my colleagues and the cosponsors of H.R. 649 to vote for it. Mr. Speaker, at a congressional hearing that I cochaired last year, Mihrigul Tursun recounted her horrifying ordeal with torture, sexual abuse, and detention in one of China's mass internment camps in Xinjiang. 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 currents coursing through her body, and mocked her belief in God. She was tortured simply for being an ethnic Uighur and a Muslim in China. There are millions of stories like this waiting to be told about the crimes against humanity being committed each and every day by the Chinese Government against the Uighurs, the Kazakhs, and the Turkic Muslims. Given that this year is the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, maybe we should not be surprised by the cruelty and brutality of the Chinese Communist Party. But the size and scale of what is happening in Xinjiang is audaciously repressive, even by China's low standards: The mass internment of millions of people on a scale that has not been seen since the Holocaust; children ripped from the warm embrace of their families to be indoctrinated in communist ideology and forced to renounce their religious culture and language; rape, sexual abuse, and forced abortions of women being held in internment camps; forced labor on a scale that allows Chinese companies to profit from modern-day slavery. That atrocities such as these can exist in the 21st century is astounding and enormously sad. We cannot be silent. We must demand an end to these barbaric practices and accountability from the Chinese Government. We must say ``never again'' to the cultural genocide and the atrocities suffered by the Uighurs and others in China. Chinese authorities initially denied the existence of mass internment camps, Mr. Speaker, and even now portray them as vocational training centers. What a cruel joke. They employed lies, censorship, and economic coercion to stifle discussion of their crimes. But documents obtained by The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have exposed the brutality behind Beijing's plans to radically and coercively transform the culture and religion of ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims in China. The leaked internal papers show detailed plans to intern between 1 million and 3 million Uighurs in modern-day concentration camps, where they are subjected to severe human rights abuses and Orwellian indoctrination efforts for those ``whose thinking has been infected.'' 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 has directed the crackdown, saying that the Communist Party must put ``the organs of dictatorship'' to work and show--his words--``absolutely no mercy'' in dealing with the Uighurs and other Muslims. In one speech exposed by the leaked documents, President Xi Jinping says, ``The weapons of the people's democratic dictatorship must be wielded without any hesitation or wavering.'' In 2017, he told thousands of police officers and troops standing at attention to prepare for ``a smashing, obliterating offensive.'' According to the documents, Communist Party officials who were reluctant to carry out Xi's draconian policies were investigated and expunged--and worse: ``Secret teams of investigators 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.'' Xi Jinping has created, Mr. Speaker, one of the worst human rights tragedies on the face of the Earth. Xi Jinping and his government are directly responsible--directly responsible--for these crimes against humanity. Our hope is that a reckoning is coming, but only if the international community stands up to China. I would note with some sadness, notably absent are voices from many Muslim countries, and I have raised it myself with many leaders of Muslim countries. They have not been as critical of China as they ought to be. They need to speak out and to do it boldly and very clearly. I do want to commend the Trump administration for its actions over the past several years. They have issued strong statements and, according to the U.S. Commerce Department just last month, 28 government agencies and businesses were placed on the Entity List and barred. The way the Secretary of Commerce put it: `` `The U.S. Government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,' said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. `This action will ensure that our technologies, fostered in an environment of individual liberty and free enterprise, are not used to repress defenseless minority populations.' '' These are important steps. This legislation, however, takes the next step. More must be done. Chinese officials, as I said earlier, need to be held accountable for crimes against humanity, including Global Magnitsky and international sanctions and U.N. investigations. Those who tortured Mihrigul Turson should know that justice is coming for them as well. And the Chinese Government companies profiting from forced labor need to be barred from selling their products made so horribly by forced labor from coming into this country. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the ranking member.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, beyond what has been done to date, Chinese companies profiting from forced labor in Xinjiang must be prohibited from exporting goods to the United States and to other countries. The administration has, to its credit, blocked one Chinese company for forced labor manufacturing, but there are many other companies, particularly in the manufacturing of cotton and garments, that are profiting off the slavery of detained Uighurs. Many more companies need to be barred from entry into the U.S. market. In addition to the crimes against humanity that Xi Jinping has imposed upon the people of Xinjiang, the United States also needs to address the high-tech authoritarianism of the future being auditioned in Xinjiang. Beijing is using Xinjiang as a proving ground for an all-knowing police and surveillance state. The technology used to construct China's high-tech police state is being exported around the world to some countries in Africa, central Asia, and beyond. Every petty dictator and aspiring totalitarian can use this technology to crush democratic aspirations, human rights, religious freedom, and the rule of law. Let me also say a word or two about Uighur Americans, like the great Rebiya Kadeer, who I have been friends with since 2006--I have had her at hearings. She is an unbelievable leader. Her entire family and extended family, dozens of people, have been rounded up and have been put into prison. Nury Turkel, Rushan Abbas, and Gulchehra Hoja have had their families, as well, threatened and detained because they dared to speak up here in the United States. So many Uighur Americans have experienced the agony of family detentions and disappearances, again, a cruelty laid at the feet of Xi Jinping. He not only goes after the individual, he goes after the whole family. And again, the women in prisons in China are sexually abused and tortured. The men are abused, as well. For those watching us today, the message you hear should be clear. The United States wants to hold the Chinese Government and the Chinese companies accountable for crimes against humanity and the cruelty they inflict on your families and your loved ones. We will not be silent. Justice is coming. We are demanding accountability. I also want to take a moment to thank the reporters of Radio Free Asia's Uyghur Service. Their families have been rounded up and put into prison, into concentration camps by Xi Jinping's dictatorship. This is beyond horrific, and we need to respond accordingly. I also want to thank and note the contribution of Dr. Scott Flipse to the legislation before us today, and also the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and, frankly, to the Hong Kong Democracy and Human Rights Act that was signed into law just a few days ago. I also want to thank former CECC staff directors Paul Protic and Elyse Anderson and current staff members Jon Stivers, Peter Mattis, Megan Fluker, and Amy Reger for helping this Congress shine a bright light on the atrocities. And, of course, our full and subcommittee staffers, as well, have done yeoman's work on this terrible issue. We are united today. We need to be united with all Americans in saying, never again. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all, I want to thank the distinguished chairman and the ranking member, Mr. McCaul, for their strong support for this effort, both bills that are up today. And I would also especially like to thank the Speaker for her leadership as well. Mr. Speaker, since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago, I have had the privilege of working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including, and especially, Speaker Pelosi, Jim McGovern, my good friend--and he is the chairman of the China Commission, and I am ranking member--and Congressman Frank Wolf, a former Member who was tenacious in his fight for human rights, the rule of law, and democracy for the people of China. We have always believed that every person deserves better than the brutality so many endure in the systematic violations of their universally recognized human rights. China's ruthless dictators do not agree, and they are driven--they are obsessed--to tighten their control. Today, Mr. Speaker, Hong Kong is burning. The status quo is no longer. The brutal government crackdown on democracy activists has escalated. Tragically, under President Xi Jinping, human rights abuse throughout China has significantly worsened, including the pervasive use of torture, religious persecution, human trafficking, and genocide against Muslim Uighurs. Last month, Mr. Speaker, President Xi ominously warned of even more brutal violence to come in Hong Kong, threatening ``crushed bodies and shattered bones.'' And the Hong Kong Government, itself, prefers bullets and batons over peaceful and political dialog that would address the Hong Kong people's rightful grievances. That is a sad and disgusting reality, and it is what the Chinese Government, however, does best: suppress, repress, torture, kill, and censor. With the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the United States Congress is making it clear that beating, torturing, and jailing democracy activists is absolutely wrong. We stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. There will be strong sanctions, other ramifications, for this crackdown, for this abuse of power. The people of Hong Kong have feared for their freedom for a long time. In 2014, Mr. Speaker, I met with Martin Lee and Anson Chan, two titans of Hong Kong's democracy movement. They and Scott Flipse, of the China Commission, and I met in my office for hours as we discussed the Chinese Communist Party's growing influence and their attempts that had already begun to degrade autonomy and human rights in Hong Kong. That is, Mr. Speaker, the genesis of this bill and our 5-year effort to push back on Beijing's pernicious interference in Hong Kong. In the midst of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, I first introduced, joined by Speaker Pelosi, the first Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. My CECC co-chair, Senator Brown of Ohio, introduced the same bill in the Senate. Over the years, in 2015 and 2017, Senator Rubio and I upgraded the bill to reflect the kidnapping of book sellers, the disqualification of elected lawmakers, and the political prosecutions of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Benny Tai, and many others. However, every time, every single time we pushed for passage, there was vigorous opposition from diplomats, so-called experts, committee chairs, and U.S. business interests in Hong Kong. So passage of this legislation is long overdue. My House bill, cosponsored by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my good friend and colleague, and 46 other bipartisan cosponsors passed last month on October 15. Today, we consider a final bill derived from working with our colleagues in the United States Senate. Specifically, the act directs the Secretary of State to report and certify to Congress, annually, whether Hong Kong continues to deserve special treatment under U.S. law, different from Mainland China, in such matters as trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation, and protection of human rights and the rule of law. It directs the State Department not to deny entry visas based primarily on the applicant's arrest or detention for participating in nonviolent protest activities in Hong Kong. It requires, for the next 7 years, an annual report from the Commerce Department on whether Hong Kong Government adequately enforces U.S. export controls and sanctions laws, including on those goods and services transshipped to North Korea, Iran, or other countries relating to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics trafficking, and more. It requires an assessment of whether U.S. origin items, including software, technology, and services, have been transferred from Hong Kong to China in violation of U.S. law and have been used by China for mass surveillance, predictive policing, or for the so-called social credit system. I know some Members might be wondering: What is the social credit system? It is a ubiquitous, totalitarian, ``brave new world'' system scheduled for implementation by 2020 that uses public records, online activity, and other tools of surveillance to aggregate data on every Chinese citizen and business and use that data to monitor, shape, and rate financial, social, religious, or political behaviors. The bill requires the President to submit a strategy to Congress, to protect U.S. citizens and businesses in Hong Kong from the erosion of autonomy and the rule of law because of actions taken by the Chinese Government. It requires the President to identify and sanction persons in Hong Kong or in Mainland China responsible for extrajudicial rendition and gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. The Chinese Government warns us repeatedly not to interfere in China's internal affairs, but the only interference we see is Beijing's meddling in the democratic freedoms of Hong Kong. All I see and this body sees, my fellow colleagues, is Beijing's failure to honor the promises made in the 1984 Sino-British declaration, an international treaty. All we see is Beijing's failure to honor the promises of Hong Kong's Basic Law. We cannot avert our eyes to what is happening in Hong Kong. We cannot silence our voices when the rule of law, democracy, human rights, free speech, and autonomy are being threatened in Hong Kong. We must remain steadfast in support of the people of Hong Kong. The whole world has a stake in a peaceful and just resolution in Hong Kong. The passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is an important signal that this Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, House and Senate, considers Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy a critical interest of the United States and the international community. In Hong Kong, they encourage each other to keep pressing forward with the phrase ``Jia you.'' So today, I say to you, all of you in Hong Kong: ``Jia you.'' Your cause is a noble, one and you will not be forgotten. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), the ranking member of the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Florida an additional 1 minute.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, the United States' and the world's response to the Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago and the massive crackdown that was unleashed after that, because of that weak response, has enabled unrelenting and pervasive human rights abuses ever since. Had we been strong and predictable and said that human rights matter, had we linked it to MFN, most-favored-nation status, and stuck to it, we would have had a different China today that, at least more than it does today, would have respected the rule of law and human rights. We cannot recommit that mistake by being weak and vacillating in the face of this terrible, terrible attack on the people of Hong Kong and on their autonomy. Remember, what we are asking Xi Jinping, Carrie Lam, and all the other leaders in Hong Kong and in Beijing to do is just honor your promises; you made solemn promises that you are violating now with impunity. We have to be very clear that if we enable that, if we look the other way, then we become unwittingly, perhaps, but complicit in this terrible degrading of the human rights situation for the people of Hong Kong. Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my colleagues as well, and I think we all know this, but this bill is the work of so many who deeply care, many Members across the aisle, bipartisanship at a time when that seems to be pretty much a rare commodity, but when it comes to Hong Kong, we are all there joined together arm-in-arm speaking out on behalf of these tremendous leaders who suffer and go to prison and endure tear gas and worse each and every day. I want to mention some of the staff members, and there are many. When we had the bill up on the 15th, I mentioned even more. But these members were instrumental in working on the legislation over the past 5 years. Remember, this is the fourth time I introduced it, and I have worked with Marco Rubio and others. This is a bicameral and bipartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank former staff directors of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Paul Protic and Elise Anderson, for their important work on Hong Kong and China. I want to thank Piero Tozzi of my staff for his focus on human rights in China and around the world. I particularly want to mention the contribution made to this legislation by Scott Flipse of the CECC, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. In 2014, Dr. Flipse first convinced me. We had met, and he said that we have a problem in Hong Kong and that we need to address it. I was co-chair of the China Commission. Then we had meetings with Chinese leaders and Hong Kong leaders. We began to see that what was taking place in somewhat slow motion before our eyes was that there was a long-term Beijing plan to undermine Hong Kong's autonomy and that the U.S. needed to focus its efforts on countering that plan. He has been a stalwart advocate for the people of Hong Kong ever since, and I, again, want to thank him for his critical contributions to this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.