Political Quotes

“Madam President, on June 9, the streets of Hong Kong filled with over 1 million individuals peacefully protesting what they saw as an unjust law and attack on democracy. It was an incredible visual of people standing up for democracy and standing up for human rights. Here we are 5 months later, and the images are much different. You would be forgiven if you saw them and thought they were in a war zone. Hundreds of student protesters barricaded themselves in a Hong Kong university surrounded by armored riot police, pummeled by rubber bullets and tear gas, fires raging, destruction, devastation, and smoke everywhere. There have been 5 months of protests, rising anger, and tension. There have been 5 months of police crackdowns on peaceful protests, spurring further protests and resistance, and U.S.-made, U.S.-exported police equipment being misused by the Hong Kong police to violate the human rights of protesters. So far, over 10,000 rounds of tear gas have been fired into the crowds of protesters. We believe in free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to protest, not state-sponsored oppression and violence. It is time to ban the export of U.S.-made police equipment to Hong Kong that is being used to abuse their human rights. That is why I am so pleased to introduce, in partnership with my colleague from Texas, S. 2710, which prohibits the export of munitions and crowd-control equipment to the Hong Kong Police Force.…”