Melvin Watt: “Mr. Speaker, I am rising in opposition to the rule on this bill. I rise in opposition to the rule because the Committee…”

“Mr. Speaker, I am rising in opposition to the rule on this bill. I rise in opposition to the rule because the Committee on Rules ruled that an amendment that I attempted to offer on the floor was not in order. I think the Committee on Rules should have made my amendment in order. There is not a person in this house or in our country, I believe, who would not find offensive and abhorrent the abduction, enslavement, killing, imprisonment, rape, crucifixion or any forms of torture, which this bill condemns and sanctions. This bill condemns and sanctions those forms of torture, but it does it only when the victims are tortured because of religious beliefs. The amendment that I sought to offer would have expanded this bill to offer the same kind of protections for those persecuted because of race, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”