Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation, the Li Wenliang Global Health Public Accountability Act that would sanction any senior foreign official who conceals information dealing with the outbreak of a pandemic, including COVID-19. On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang warned his medical school classmates of an outbreak of a SARS-like virus over WeChat. Wuhan's Public Security Bureau detained, questioned, and forced Dr. Li to sign a letter confessing he made false comments that severely disturbed the social order. Tragically, ironically, 5 weeks later on February 7, 2020, Dr. Li died of a severe case of COVID-19. A study published in March indicated that if Chinese authorities had acted just 3 weeks earlier, the number of coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 95 percent and its geographic spread limited. By suppressing critical public health information, officials abroad have demonstrated they care more about maintaining their grip on power than the health and wellbeing of the world population. This bill will change that by ensuring these cronies will not see the perks created by their corruption. By passing this bill today, we will honor Dr. Li, set the global standard for transparency, and crack down on corruption and human rights abuses. I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this legislation and urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question, so that we can consider my bill.”