Condemning All Forms of Anti-Asian Sentiment As Related to Covid-19
Floor Speech
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, we oppose this legislation. Everyone knows racism is wrong, but that is not what this legislation is about.
I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins).
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey).
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, again, we all know racism is wrong, but that is not what this is about. This is just another effort of the Democrats to attack the President.
The third whereas in the resolution, the gentlemen just spoke about this. The third whereas in the resolution says you perpetuate anti- Asian bias if you use the terms ``Chinese virus'' or ``Wuhan virus.'' Well, someone should have told the media this.
CNN called it the Wuhan virus. MSNBC called it the Chinese coronavirus. ABC and CBS called it China's coronavirus. CNBC called it the China coronavirus. So someone should have told the media that you couldn't use these terms.
Frankly, someone should have told the Democrats a few months ago that a few months later the mob, the cancel culture, would say this is a term you can't use, because the Democrats used it on their committee notice.
In the January 29, 2020, committee notice, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation, Congressman Barrett, the chairman, says in the subject line of the hearing for the following week: ``Subject: The Wuhan coronavirus.''
Someone should have told the Democrats you can't use that term, but in the new woke world you can't state the truth.
And as Mr. Collins pointed out:
Did the virus start in China? Yes.
Did the virus start in Wuhan, China? Yes.
Did China lie to the United States about the severity and the origins of this virus? Yes.
Did China lie to the world about the virus? Yes, they did.
Did the World Health Organization lie to the United States? Yes, they did.
Did the World Health Organization lie to the rest of the world?
The answer to every single one of those questions is yes. But you can't say that, not in this world, not in the politically correct cancel culture. You can't state the truth.
You can't state that the Chinese Government launched a disinformation campaign to cover up its role in exacerbating the spread of COVID-19.
You can't say the coverup included punishing doctors, limiting the access of journalists, censoring the internet, spreading disinformation, and withholding information from the entire international community. You can't say that.
You can't say a Chinese Government official publicly and falsely claimed that the United States Army brought it to Wuhan, the Chinese Government failed to institute a full-scale public response, and underreporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths propelled the virus on the course that it has been on. You can't say all that. You could a few months ago. You could have a few months ago, but you can't today. That is the cancel culture world. That is how the mob operates today.
You used to be able to say, as Mr. Collins pointed out, the West Nile virus, the Zika virus, German measles, Spanish flu. Not today. Not today. They will attack you if you don't say it the way they want you to say it, and this is dangerous. You can't say China virus today, and tomorrow who knows what it will be.
But, like I said, a few months ago, even the Democrat committee chairman used the very term that is in their resolution they are saying you can't use today because somehow it is anti-Asian bias. I think it has more to do with the fact that we are 7 weeks before an election, and this is one more way to go after the President.
But we should all remember, this is dangerous when you start saying certain things can't be said. If you don't say it the way we, the politically correct, the cancel culture mob wants you to say it, you have to be quiet.
Silence is the biggest threat to the First Amendment, and that is what we are seeing. And they want to just say--this is broader, this is bigger.
I would say look at the sports world. Look at the sports world. Drew Brees says you should stand for the national anthem; he gets attacked.
Mike Gundy, football coach at Oklahoma State, goes fishing with his kids and wears what the mob says is the wrong T-shirt; he almost loses his job. He wore a T-shirt that had a conservative news outlet on the T-shirt. Oh, my goodness.
You can't coach football if you wear the wrong T-shirt with your kids, according to the mob. You can't say a term today that just a few months ago they used on their committee notice. You can't say it today because that is what the mob says.
James Harden says ``Back the Blue'' on a mask. He has to answer for that.
Last week, two high school football players--on 9/11--ran on the field with a Back the Blue flag and a flag supporting our firefighters, and they get suspended because today the mob says that is not okay.
We need to understand the cancel culture restricting, limiting, telling you what you can and can't say is so darn dangerous, and it will never stop, because the mob never--it never quits.
You don't believe me? Two weeks ago--2 weeks ago--the mayor of this city, our Nation's Capital, has a proposal to remove and relocate the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. This is how ridiculous--this is how ridiculous it gets.
And maybe I will just finish with this. Maybe the most ridiculous thing is the last clause, the last page of their resolution. The last page says: ``recommits United States leadership in building more inclusive, diverse, and tolerant societies . . . to combat misinformation. . . .''
Now, think about this for a second. If you state the truth, the virus started in China, you are a bad guy. You are not allowed to state the truth. This resolution says that is misinformation.
The very misinformation that happened was China misinforming the world, lying to the world. You are not allowed to talk about that. You have to do what--this resolution says you have to do it the politically correct, the woke way, the cancel culture way, and that is why this is so darn wrong, so darn wrong.
I hope we don't continue to travel down this road. This is scary where the left wants to take the country, so dangerous for the First Amendment and free speech rights.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), the chairman of the Freedom Caucus.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Was it a disgrace a few months ago when the Democratic chairman called it the `` Wuhan coronavirus,'' or is it just a disgrace now when we are less than 7 weeks before an election and you guys want to continue to attack the President? Which is it? Because it can't be a disgrace just now when you used the exact same language that the Democrat chairman, the Democrat staff used for their subcommittee hearing.
So you can get all fired up and start yelling at us, but the truth is you guys used it, the same terms you are now saying, oh, are so bad in this resolution.
The hypocrisy from the left and the mob of what you can say today and can't say tomorrow is ridiculous, and the American people see it. They see it. They know this is complete BS. They know it is completely about the election, which is 7 weeks away.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).
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Mr. JORDAN. Will the gentleman yield for a question?
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Mr. JORDAN. Was The Washington Post on January 26, 2020, to use your words, stoking anti-Asian bias when they used the word ``Chinese coronavirus''? Was The New York Times on February 20, 2020, stoking anti-Asian bias when they used the term ``Wuhan coronavirus'' in their headline?
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.
Madam Speaker, what we should also do is denounce violence, all the violence, we see in our urban areas.
The Democrats were given that opportunity just 2 months ago when the Attorney General of the United States asked them: Why won't you speak out against the violence in our cities? Why won't you speak out against what the mob is doing in our cities?
Guess what we got from them? We got silence.
Let's speak out against the violence we have seen for over 100 days in Portland and so many of our other great cities.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the minority leader, the leader of our great Conference.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the Speaker of the House said that the Russians are trying to jeopardize the security of our election. So are the Democrats.
Democrats are trying to win the election after the election. Democrats in Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit that says you can fix errors on absentee ballots after the ballot has been returned to the Board of Elections. I don't even know what this means.
Can you vote in a race you didn't vote in?
Can you change a vote?
What does that mean, you can fix errors after you have already submitted the ballot?
In Nevada, Democrats passed a law that says you can accept mail-in ballots 3 days after the election, even if the postmark date on the ballot on the envelope can't be distinguished.
They are trying to win the election after the election. That is scary.
The Speaker said that the White House is using dangerous and offensive language. The premise of the resolution in front of us is language can cause people to take action, and if you use the term ``China virus'' or ``Wuhan virus'', somehow that will lead to bias against Asian-American people; even though they used the terms ``China virus'' and ``Wuhan virus''. Everyone in the mainstream media used it. They used it in the committee hearing notice.
Even though all that is there, they now say, oh, if you use those terms it will lead to anti-Asian bias.
But they don't talk about the language they use and the left uses, the language the Speaker uses and how that may create an environment that will lead to violence. The Speaker of the House called the President of the United States an enemy of the state and said his supporters in Congress--Republicans--are enemies of the state.
They don't talk about that. No. China virus can lead people to take action, but, no, not when the Speaker of the House calls the President of the United States and Republican Members of Congress enemies of the state.
Two years ago a Democrat Member of Congress, the chair of a committee said this 2 years ago this summer: If you see somebody in the Trump Cabinet, you create a crowd, you push back on them, you tell them they are not welcome anymore anywhere.
She encouraged her constituents to approach people in the Trump administration, harass them, and tell them they are not welcome anymore anywhere.
She encouraged direct action. That is far different from using the term ``China virus'' which they used and which they had in a committee notice.
This individual Member of Congress said, ``Go harass people in the Trump Cabinet.''
The Speaker of the House calls Republicans ``enemies of the State.'' And that is all fine by them.
But, oh, you say, ``the virus started in Wuhan, China,'' and somehow you are terrible.
This is the crazy world the left is in today. The crazy world they are in today.
And, again, as said earlier by the gentleman from Texas and by others, I think the American people see right through this baloney, see right through it. This is ridiculous.
I hope we get our senses and start--as the Republican minority leader said--I hope we would actually start spending more of our time on issues of more value to the American people.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the resolution for all the reasons we have articulated here this morning. I think it is important to go back and just remember, this is not about people of Asian- American descent. This is not about the Chinese people.
It is about the Chinese Communist Party. It is about the Chinese Government, a government that lied to us about the origins of this virus, lied to the world, used the World Health Organization to continue to mislead the United States and the world. That has been where the criticism has been targeted by the President.
But, again, 7 weeks before an election, Democrats don't care about the facts. They care about attacking the President, calling his supporters, as the Speaker of this House did, ``enemies of the state,'' bringing a resolution to the floor of this nature, but not being willing to condemn the violence and the mobs in the streets of our cities and certain places for over 100 days straight, looting and violence and rioting and attacks on our law enforcement officers. Nope, can't. We can't bring a resolution. We can't talk about that. When the Attorney General of the United States asked, the Democrat members of the Committee on the Judiciary won't even speak up then.
Madam Speaker, I hope we defeat this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
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