Chris Smith

Sometimes indecision, the decision not to make a decision, is itself a choice.

It is now Russia that is taking the decisive role in shaping Syria's future and not in a helpful way.

ISIS now stands where it stands gaining ground as a result of our failure to act.

This is a human rights calamity that has been left to fester in Syria.

The heart of human trafficking being exploitation rather than the movement of people.

The Tier 2 ranking for India doesn't appear to be deserved at all.

We want an honest assessment of friend and foe alike, allies around the world. No games, no brinkmanship.

I remember it was you who finally, despite the China hands who didn't want, I'm sure, you to do it, pointed out the nexus between the coercive population control program of the PRC and the consequence, particularly of sex trafficking…

If I was in the Thai Embassy I would say, What gives here? That is very, very discouraging.

I am probably the only member, along with Frank Wolf, who has ever been in a laogai, Beijing Number 1.

Mark Lagon from Freedom House... claims that there is an utter absence of prosecutions for labor trafficking.

I have chaired hearings on Vietnam Human Rights Act that I have gotten passed four times in the House.

And I mean when a country doesn't even acknowledge its forced labor, when it pimps out girls who are 16.

I think 15 years later we are really getting it right because every Embassy I go to, and there are many, I always ask who is doing TIP there.

I hope to hear a thorough explanation today of how this determination was made and by whom, but I fear that the damage has already been done.

And that is why it is my judgment that it is particularly alarming and really a shame that we are here today discussing what seems to be the obvious politicization of the report in the context of Malaysia.

I take it very serious. My daughter at 15 years of age brought this particular subject really up close and personal.

Either the report and our efforts to correct these terrible crimes are meaningful or they become a political tool.

I think it is important that we continue to hold our own country accountable.

We must get the report right--no fudging, no favors to nations based on other agendas--or we risk losing the most effective tool we have to help the more than 20 million victims of trafficking enslaved around the world.

I thank Chairman Royce for his leadership on this very important human rights issue, as he has done so ably and effectively on all of these issues, particularly his leadership on Iran; and that, of course, would be echoed with Eliot…

The beauty of democracy is that the people get to influence these sorts of things.

Let me just ask you, if you are concerned as I am, about conforming human rights designations to accommodate other political considerations.

And it is for all those reasons, Mr. Chairman, that we believe great pressure needs to be brought to bear on Pakistan to improve its record on religious freedom and until reforms are made, Pakistan deserves to be on the CPC list.

So if you just read the statute, apply the law, ask the question does Pakistan meet that standard, systematic egregious and ongoing, the answer is it does.