Joseph Cao: “We ask that this House and this administration will heed the voice of the oppressed around the world, particularly those…”

And therefore I would ask the Congress to take actions now to back up our dialogue with action to show Vietnam that these are no longer empty words.

When you deprive people their rights to live in dignity, to hope for a better future, to have control over their lives--when you deprive them of that choice, then you expect them to fight for these rights.

The passage of the Vietnam Human Rights Act through the House speaks very loudly of where we are as a government.

April 30, 1975, was the day of infamy for the millions of Vietnamese whose future was dashed when their freedom was extinguished by the brutal assault on South Vietnam by Communist forces in blatant violation of the 1973 Paris Peace Accord.