On the recordJune 17, 2020
I am reserving the right to object. As I listened carefully to the statements made by the Senator from Missouri about the aggressive and unacceptable conduct of the Government of China, or Hong Kong, he is absolutely right, I believe, that it is important that the U.S. Senate--in fact, that the U.S. Government take action strongly expressing our disapproval but also take action to actually show the Government of China that there will be a price to pay if they continue down that path of aggression and try to snuff out the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. That is why, immediately after the Government of China announced its intentions to move in that direction, we introduced a bipartisan bill. Senator Toomey introduced the bill. I am proud to join him as a cosponsor. We have other Democratic and Republican cosponsors to the bill. I am pleased to see the Senator from North Dakota on the floor. He is a cosponsor of that bill. It is called the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. In addition to expressing the sentiments that the Senator from Missouri lays out in his Senate resolution, it proposes that we take action as the Government of the United States. While we have heard statements from Secretary Pompeo, the reality is that this administration has not exercised any of its existing sanctions authority that it could take to express our strong disapproval of the actions the Government of China is proposing to take with respect to Hong Kong.…
