Condemning All Forms of Anti-Asian Sentiment As Related to Covid-19

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, let's be clear. There is no denying where the virus originated. It was China.

There is no denying the Chinese Communist Party has done everything in its power to cover up their role in the ongoing pandemic, intentionally misleading the global community and forcing their friends in the World Health Organization to do their bidding.

That being said, how is that Democrats are still refusing to acknowledge China's role in the coronavirus pandemic? Just recently, a Chinese virologist acknowledged that the coronavirus was released from a Chinese lab in Wuhan. Are we just to pretend that didn't exist or is not even a possibility?

It seems like the route the Democrats would like us to take is to pretend that the Communists in China absolutely played no role in the global pandemic and blame it all on the President.

To be clear, Madam Speaker, all forms of racism and discrimination are abhorrent, including anti-Asian sentiment. If that is what we were talking about today, that would be even better. But this is not what we are talking about today.

The underlying tone, even from the chairman, is discussing how we deal with this in words. I have stood on this floor several times over the past year-and-a-half in denouncing all forms of hatred on both sides.

But let's be honest. That is not what this bill is really about. This bill is exactly what this entire Congress has been about the entire time: Democrats ignoring the real issues plaguing Americans, just for the opportunity to criticize President Trump.

Despite their overwhelming failure to undermine the Trump administration through the Russian collusion hoax and the sham impeachment, the Democratic playbook has not changed at all.

Now, a little over 6 weeks from the election, Democrats are leaning on the global crisis to continue their admonitions, all at the expense of American families and businesses desperate for relief.

Democrats have taken no issue in ignoring the coronavirus' effects on the ground in favor of criticizing the President, and no criticism is more dynamic than their collective offense at President Trump calling the virus the ``China virus'' or the ``Wuhan virus.''

Democrats would love for the American people to forget the work that the administration has done to tackle the virus, including shutting down travel for China in the early days of the virus. Instead of applauding the move, Democrats and Joe Biden accused the Trump administration and President Trump of fanning the flames of hate, fear, and xenophobia, when his actual actions kept others from getting it and kept it from spreading because it was coming from China.

For the last 3 years, Democrats have repeatedly claimed that Russia must have something on Donald Trump. The real question is, frankly, during a presidential election, what does the Chinese Communist Party have on Joe Biden?

Democrats would also love for the American people to forget that many viruses are named for where they originated. Take the Spanish flu, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Ebola, and German measles. Because the Democrats seem to be so bankrupt on this floor of bringing bills and real solutions forward, maybe the next 2 weeks we are up here, we are going to have one on the German measles and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

That is all we are doing, wasting the people's time with this right here. If you want to work on politics, go outside the Capitol, not here on the floor of this House.

President Trump and Republicans have made it clear where the blame of this virus begins. It begins and ends with the Chinese Communist Party and their refusal to acknowledge the problem they had and let it go into all the world. Refusing to acknowledge that fact is wrong, and failing to address it in the House, in favor of political messaging bills like this, is nothing more than political attempts to take down this President.

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