Tom Tiffany: “My amendment would prevent the enforcement of several arbitrary, self-imposed State Department restrictions that limit…”

“My amendment would prevent the enforcement of several arbitrary, self-imposed State Department restrictions that limit communication and cooperation between U.S. officials and their counterparts in Taiwan. This amendment is similar to one that was adopted earlier in the Department of Defense appropriations bill. As I discussed then, these restrictions are not required by any provision of law and have been put in place at the behest of Communist China. They make it difficult for senior U.S. officials to travel to Taiwan and to interact with their Taiwanese counterparts. In essence, these guidelines are designed to prevent and limit high-level, bilateral cooperation. Not only does this make little sense, it is in direct conflict with existing laws that call for expanding such cooperation, such as the Taiwan Travel Act. Mr. Chair, a State Department memorandum should never trump the laws we pass in this body or outsource American foreign policy to the CCP. My amendment will make sure that neither of those things happen by scrapping these restrictive guidelines. I ask for a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”