Declaring Genocide in Darfur, Sudan

DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN -- (House of Representatives - July 21, 2004)

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 467) declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan, as amended.

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Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening because of this resolution. I cannot think of another resolution, another
matter before this body in the last few months or years that is more important than this resolution, the Payne resolution.

Mr. Speaker, we have at this time an opportunity to stand up for justice and to stand up for peace and to stand up for what is right. We have an opportunity at this time to stop the genocide that is occurring in the Sudan. And, Mr. Speaker, now is the time when we must take action as a body. It is on us. We have had the horrible experience of witnessing and apologizing indeed for the Rwandan holocaust, and now we are faced here 10 years later with something similar going on in the Sudan.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to allow this genocide that is occurring in the Sudan to continue. We must rise up to the occasion. We must forget about those partisan things that divide us. We must come together as a body, as a Congress, indeed, as a nation; and we must show the world the way to eliminate the kind of racial and religious hatred that exists in this world. We must rise up and show the example.

The future of this nation, the future of this world is at stake, because if we allow genocide to occur in the Sudan, if we do not do anything about it, then, Mr. Speaker, genocide will occur in almost any place throughout this world.

We have an opportunity and we have an obligation. Let us not fail the people of the world.