Robert Wexler: “I, too, am outraged at the atrocities at Tiananmen Square 9 years ago. I, too, as the concurrent resolution states, am…”

“I, too, am outraged at the atrocities at Tiananmen Square 9 years ago. I, too, as the concurrent resolution states, am outraged that children were killed holding the hands of their mothers, outraged that students were crushed by armored personnel carriers. As the resolution says, I am outraged that more than 2,000 Chinese, pro-democracy demonstrators, died that day. But is this resolution about changing policy in China? Unfortunately, it is not. It is just yet another partisan political attempt to embarrass the President. While I would never dare impugn the motives of those speaking in favor of the resolution, where were all the voices, where was the Speaker's voice, when he supported extending China once again Most Favored Nation trading status? Where were all the voices who support extending Most Favored Nation trading status on China? Why were they not talking about the atrocities then? To support China-MFN and to support this concurrent resolution is intellectually incompatible, because to do so is to argue that these brave souls, 2,000 of them that lost their lives, their lives are worthy of changing a ceremony but they are not worthy of changing our economic policy.”