Political Quotes

“And I rise in strong support of S. 2078. Mr. Speaker, this bill will reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, what we call USCIRF, and it deserves this body's strong support. I want to begin by thanking Senator Corker, Senator Cardin, and Senator Durbin for the work that they did in pushing this bill on the Senate side. I want to thank our chairman, Chairman Royce, and Representative Chris Smith for his strong leadership here in the House on matters dealing with religious freedom. This bill, which has been endorsed by all nine of the current Commissioners, would reauthorize the Commission for 4 years and require that the Commission agree on a bipartisan strategic plan to be submitted to Congress within 180 days. Moreover, the Commission will also be required to reach bipartisan agreement on personnel policies, which I hope they will see as an opportunity, as an organization dedicated to promoting freedom and tolerance, to include strong nondiscrimination protections for religion, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation, as well as the other federally protected classes. The right to practice religion and worship freely is a bedrock principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, of course, of our own Constitution.…”