Political Quotes

On the recordMay 27, 2021
Mr. President, I rise to support amendment No. 2103, which addresses a very important issue in the world, which is the issue of governments that undertake to destroy populations, either in other countries or within their own country; that is, to commit genocide. Now, this topic comes up because China is committing genocide against its own Uighur population--a million Uighurs who are enslaved, who are trapped, who are assaulted in every possible way by the official authorities operating out of Beijing. The finding of genocide is one that the State Department takes very seriously. It involves long investigations, collection of evidence, analysis. It is not something to say lightly. But we now have two Secretaries of State who have led our State Department through this process and reached the same conclusion--Secretary Pompeo, under President Trump, and Secretary Blinken, under President Biden. And both find that this is, in fact, genocide. Now, at this very moment, athletes are preparing to compete in the Olympic Games in China, and I find it horrific that the prestige of the Games is going to be carried on for a country that is committing genocide. Now, we have a Commission that works on human rights issues, known as the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and it hauls a whole team of experts who work to analyze human rights issues.…
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Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon

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