Sam Brownback

It seems to run counter to where the trend line is going or should be going for us to further this relationship.

The progress really does need--we need to see progress in these areas as well

This is a serious matter, it isn't about destabilizing Vietnam

It has to stop or this is going to--this will poison what has been a growing relationship

We will put that in the record if that is acceptable to you to put in the record and it won't hurt them further.

I think those are excellent. Again, as I noted, we have a refugee limit that's much higher than what we've been fulfilling the last couple of years.

Do we need to pass any additional laws or rules here from the Senate or the House to express this to the Vietnamese Government or to the U.S. administration?

Well, I appreciate yours, because you're representing millions, billions of people around the world just yearning to think freely.

Why--why is this happening now? Why would they take this step backward at this point in time?

Good. Gentlemen, thank you very much. I appreciate you coming up, and I appreciate your work on a vital relationship.

What if the track does not change that they're on? What if they continue to say, well, fine, I hear your suggestions, but no action response, or even you continue to get more and more closings, more and more restrictions?

We want to do better on religious freedom, what do you think we should be doing as suggestions

We need to get the systemic changes where they allow people to open up churches

Our goal is not to impose a designation or sanctions. Our goal is to see greater religious freedom

If you're going to continue this relationship and particularly focus on the economic issue, you will find the Congress, if Vietnam doesn't address these issues, you'll find the Congress finding ways to try to impact this on the issues of…

But they hold the keys in their own hand as to how fast this will move forward.

This will create a major impediment if it's not addressed, and I think it's pretty simple to address.

Are you seeing any progress or commitments on their parts to truly address the human rights issues?

This is not a terrorist population that a lot of people are reviewing.

It's a glaring hole on the human rights area.

We've got a high refugee number, and we're nowhere near filling it.

They're big churches, huh?

I'm delighted to have you all here today.

I apologize for starting the hearing 25 minutes late.

We have the Chinese now going into space and saying that they're interested in going to the moon. We don't want them really to beat us to the moon, and instead we'd rather be there and be able to develop the resources, the areas, the sweet…