On the recordDecember 16, 2011
I thank the chair very much for yielding. I want to thank Representative Ros-Lehtinen and her staff for, really, being very dogged and persistent, and I want them to know how grateful I am. As people are for this bill, they should know that had it not been for them, we would not be here. I also want to thank Mr. Berman and his staff. I want to thank Mr. Cantor and his staff for scheduling this. I want to single out Speaker Boehner and his staff because they were a part of this effort for the last several months, and they were very faithful, so I want to thank them. I also want to thank my staff for being involved in this for well over a year. The Coptic Christians are going through a very difficult time. The Iraqi Christians are being killed, and difficult things are happening to them. In Tibet, the Buddhists are setting themselves aflame because of the persecution of the Chinese Government. The Catholic Church in China is under stress: 25 bishops are under house arrest. The Protestant House Church in China is being squeezed and persecuted. The Christians in Sudan, in the Blue Nile area, are going through genocide and are being killed because of their faith. Interestingly enough, the original bill passed on the very last day of Congress a number of years ago, and history is repeating itself. The Commission has been a beacon of hope. With that, I just want to, again, thank all those who helped us get here.
