Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, Relating to ``Contributions in Exchange for State or Local Tax Credits''

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, as we gather today here in peace and safety in this quiet Chamber, we must remember that there is a city half a world away that is struggling to survive--a city that is fighting for human rights and human liberty and a city that is a solitary pinpoint of light on a continent of authoritarianism, a city called Hong Kong.

The need there is urgent, and the hour there is late, and it is time for America to act. I know this because I have been there. I have been there myself. I have seen it. I have been to Hong Kong. I have been to the streets of Hong Kong. I have seen the protesters marching in support of and in defense of their basic human rights. I have seen them demonstrating for their basic human liberties. I have seen them confronting the police with their tactics of brutality and oppression.

It makes me think that sometimes, in the course of history, the fate of one city defines the challenge of an entire generation. Fifty years ago, that city was Berlin. Today, that city is Hong Kong. The situation there is critical. Hong Kong is sliding toward becoming a police state. Have no doubt and make no mistake that Beijing wants to impose its will on Hong Kong. It wants to silence dissent in Hong Kong. It wants to steamroll Hong Kong, just as it wants to steamroll all of its neighbors in the region, just as it wants to control the region, and just as it wants ultimately to control the entire international system.

We know what is at stake in this country because we have gotten all too familiar with Beijing's tactics. We have seen what Beijing has tried to do to this country for decades now. They have stolen our jobs. They have stolen our technologies. They have tried to build and are building their military on the backs of our middle class. Their aims are expansionist, and their aims are domination, and their aims are not compatible with the security or the prosperity of this country. That is why what is happening in Hong Kong today is so important and the fight there is so significant.

Will a totalitarian China and totalitarian Beijing be allowed to dominate the city of Hong Kong, to silence it, and then to turn to the region as a whole?

You know, let's review what is actually happening there in the streets of Hong Kong. This didn't start with the people of Hong Kong; this started with Beijing. This started with Beijing and its puppet government and its puppet chief executive in Hong Kong attempting to revoke the rights of Hongkongers--the rights, by the way, that Beijing promised to the people of that city in 1984 and again in 1997. They are trying to revoke those rights by bringing in a bill for extradition of Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong residents to mainland China to be tried in China's courts, where there is no due process, where there are no basic guaranteed liberties, and where there is no recourse. That was Beijing's plan, and that would have affected not just the citizens of Hong Kong but the residents there, including over 80,000 Americans who are currently residents in the city. And the people of Hong Kong said no.

On the 12th of July, just a few days after Beijing put forward this extradition bill, 2 million Hong Kong residents--2 million took to the streets in peaceful protest. This is a city of 7\1/2\ million. There were 2 million on the streets on the 12th of July. When the Hong Kong Government--the Beijing-controlled government refused to back down, the people of Hong Kong refused to be silenced. For months now, months on end, 20 weeks and more, the people of Hong Kong have been taking to the streets protesting, seeking to vindicate their rights, and they have been doing it in the face of escalating opposition.

The Hong Kong Government--on orders, no doubt, from Beijing--has sought to deny the protesters permits to gather peacefully. They have sought to deny them the right to cover their faces because, let's not forget, China is a surveillance state, and the persecution and retribution against protesters is real, and it is constant.

Now they are talking about a potential curfew. They are shutting down subway stations early so protesters can't get from one place to another. They have used violent tactics to put down the protests--tear gas and beatings and dye blasted at protesters.

China continues to escalate--Beijing continues to escalate the situation, turning the screws on Hong Kong and taking away the rights and liberties of the people there.

Hong Kong's demands are not outlandish; they are asking for what they were promised. They were promised in 1984, by the Government of Beijing--in a duly ratified international treaty, they were promised the right to assemble and the right to peacefully gather and protest. They were promised the right to vote and to be able to choose their own government. They were promised the right to speak openly. They were promised the right to worship. Those are the rights the people of Hong Kong seek to vindicate today, and those are the rights Beijing is attempting to strip from this city as we stand here today in this Chamber.

The people of Hong Kong--they have an expression. The protesters say they are going to be like water. They say ``Be water.'' Some have actually referred to this as a water movement. They mean ``Be fluid. Be reactive. Adjust to the situation.''

I just have to say, having been there myself, having been to the streets, having seen the protesters, having met with them and talked with them, their courage and their bravery under pressure is really something to behold. It is an inspiration to me, and I think it should be an inspiration to all of us. Their love of liberty--you never love something more than when it is threatened--their love of liberty is really extraordinary.

I want to say something the Reverend Chu Yiu-ming said about liberty and democracy. He said it so beautifully. These are his words:

We strive for democracy, because democracy strives for freedom, equality and universal love. Political freedom is more than loyalty to a state. [Political freedom] professes human dignity. Every single person living in a community possesses unique potentials and unique powers, capable of making a [unique] contribution to society.

That is extraordinary, and he is exactly right. Hongkongers know it, and that is what they are standing for, and that is what they are fighting for.

The people of Hong Kong need our support, they deserve our support, and they are depending on our support. That is why it is time for this body to act. It is time to take up and pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The time for debate is over. The time for delay has passed. It is now time to stand with the people of Hong Kong and to send a signal to the world that the United States will stand with freedom-loving people, that the United States will stand up to Beijing, and that the United States will not permit China to dominate its neighbors and its region and the world.

It is time for this body to act and to act now, and it is time to do more. That is why I will soon be introducing further measures to help support the people of Hong Kong. I will be calling for the imposition of Global Magnitsky sanctions on individuals and business entities that abet Beijing in its suppression of the freedoms of speech and assembly that rightfully belong to the people of Hong Kong.

I would just say to those corporations doing business in China and to those multinational corporate entities and organizations like the NBA that it is time for you to take a stand as well. It is time for you to show a little backbone. It is time for you to show some independence. You may be multinational corporations that do business everywhere in the world, but remember that you are based here in this country. Remember--the NBA should--that you are an American organization. These companies need to remember that they are American entities, and it is time to show a little American independence.

When Beijing tries to use threats of coercion and threats of market access to get the NBA to censure and to get corporations like Apple to censure, it is time for these corporations to stand up and say: We are not going to participate, and we are not going to become part of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda arm. It is time for these companies to remember where their loyalties actually lie.

I have to say, for too long now and for too many years now, we have seen too many of these companies and these same corporate executives-- who make money hand over fist in China--we have seen them happily send our jobs to China. We have seen them happily outsource our work to China. Now they want to import censorship into this country from China. Well, no thank you. It is time that they are open about what it is they are doing, and it is time they stand up to Beijing and say: No further.

I want to say again that the situation in Hong Kong is urgent, and the people of Hong Kong are looking to the United States and to other freedom-loving peoples around the world for support and for strength. It is time that we send them the message--and call on our allies to do the same--that we must stand with Hong Kong because our own security and our own prosperity and our own ideals are at stake there.

I think, finally, of the words of John Quincy Adams, whom I will paraphrase. He said: Wherever the standard of freedom is unfurled, there will be America's prayers, there will be America's benedictions, there will be America's heart, and today, there needs to be America's voice.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source