Chris Smith

By holding today's hearing, this subcommittee is fulfilling a very important obligation to the American taxpayers...

Why do we continue to allow the sale of American technology to be used to commit this level of atrocities?

Imagine what they will do when that power grows militarily, economically, and geopolitically.

This is outrageous and it's hypocritical.

You inspire. And you have given us a lot to act on.

These spaces are, in many ways, incubators of democratic ideals.

If this particular freedom is not safeguarded, then the hopeful efforts that we would like to see... are going to be short-lived.

If I could, I actually wrote the Tortured Victims Relief Act, which established Tortured Victims Relief Centers in the United States.

It betrays a particular, again, understanding of religion and a particular religious ideology.

I for one, and I am sure it is shared by many of our people on the panel, are concerned about China's bad governance model.

We have documented in the China Commission that the NGO law that was passed by Xi Jinping... crushes NGOs.

I have worked human rights issues in China since I have been in Congress. I have been in since 1981.

The Global Magnitsky Act gives us an incredibly potent tool.

Congress remains committed to encouraging governments to respect their own constituents, their constitutions, and their people, and the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association, and expression.

Congress remains in solidarity with our partners in Africa, and focused on U.S. political and economic engagement with the continent.

Institutions in the United States remain strong and provide some checks and balances so that things don't just fall apart.

The Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the only organization with a nationwide institutional presence in moral authority capable of checking Kabila's growing authoritarian rule.

We can do it and we must do it, and we must do it robustly.

Protecting the non-governmental sector in sub-Saharan Africa is critical to preserving civil and political rights within the region.

The bill specifies that the assistance should not be less than $3.3 billion, a clear statement that this MOU constitutes a floor rather than a ceiling.

Faced with this constellation of fanatical enemies, Israel cannot spare a moment's vigilance, and neither can we, for the sake of our close friend and ally.

It is a very, very good bill and, hopefully, it becomes law sooner rather than later.

I hope the administration uses that. I think my friend from California a moment ago made a good point.

This issue, Internet firewall circumvention, desperately needs champions in the Congress.

Above all, we need leaders who know that we must not pacify the oppressors but instead fortify and strengthen the brave dissidents and ordinary Chinese citizens who are risking everything in their pursuit of freedom.