Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and everyone who has worked so hard on this, including Chairman McGovern.

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you as chair of the Congressional Uyghur Caucus and as a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to support passage of the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

We need to wake up from our torpor. It has been reported for years, but I don't think most Americans realize exactly what is going on in China.

It was almost 50 years ago that Nixon went to China, and we have always believed that the more the Chinese Government and the people were exposed to the United States and the West, our way of life, our democracy, and our economic system, the more they would become like us, the more they would adopt concepts of freedom of expression, free markets, and minority rights.

Well, that simply hasn't happened. Everyone in this body has seen reliable reports and clear documentation of crimes against humanity: forced labor, forced sterilization, mass surveillance, government-run detention camps, mass detention, sexual violence, and torture against the Uyghur people.

The Chinese Communist Party is even forcing people to eat pork during Ramadan, even though it violates people's religion.

It is hard to imagine that in today's world, that forced labor camps are happening, and we know about it. And today, we are standing up to do something about it.

The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable. We have rules in place now that say you can't use forced labor. But this bill is a major step forward in mandating that everything that comes out of Xinjiang in China will be presumed to be using forced labor and, therefore, ineligible to be sold into the U.S. supply chain. This is going to have a tremendous impact.

An overwhelming amount of cotton in the world comes from China, for example. Mr. Speaker, 84 percent of that cotton that comes from China comes from the Xinjiang region. Some people are going to say, Oh, my gosh, if we don't do business with Xinjiang, then the cost of products are going to go up. Well, that is too damn bad. This should shock everyone's conscience.

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Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, we have to do everything we can to stand up for our values. The world is watching us, and it starts with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act becoming law. Let's do this, and let's do it together.

We recognize here in our country that we went through a period of slavery. That is why it is so offensive to us now to see slavery actually happening in the world as we speak, where both administrations, the prior administration and this administration, have both said this is genocide. Standing up together in a bipartisan way is so important.

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