Wendy Sherman: “For the purpose of closing. Mr. Speaker, we have watched as the Chinese Communist Party works to break down and…”

“For the purpose of closing. Mr. Speaker, we have watched as the Chinese Communist Party works to break down and undermine the ``one country, two systems'' framework that has paved the way for a strong relationship between Hong Kong and the United States. This has motivated millions of Hong Kongers, the people of Hong Kong, to take to the streets for months to protest in defense of their basic human rights. These prodemocracy activists have faced tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets by a police force sworn to protect them, and now they face lethal force as well. {time} 1615 The passage of this bill demonstrates, once again, to the people of Hong Kong that the United States stands with them in their protest of China's erosion of the autonomy and the way of life that was promised them back in 1997. It takes a step to ensure that U.S. companies demonstrate a commitment to U.S. values in this regard, making sure that U.S. companies aren't facilitating violence against the protestors by selling what we, sadly, know can be lethal crowd control mechanisms. This bill is an important part of Congress' response by the effort of Beijing to deprive Hong Kong of the autonomy and democracy that it was promised back in 1997. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cuellar).…”