Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1129, I call up the bill (H.R. 6270) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to make certain disclosures relating to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Ms. WATERS. 6270 and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6270, the Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act of 2020, important legislation introduced by Representative Wexton, a valued member of the Committee on Financial Services.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim group and are one of a number of Muslim groups in Xinjiang that are persecuted, arbitrarily arrested, detained in forced labor concentration camps, and even executed. It has been reported by human rights advocates that over 1 million people are being held by the Chinese Government in detention camps across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Government of the People's Republic of China falsely refers to these concentration camps as vocational camps or reeducation camps.

Make no mistake: The truth is that today, in 2020, 1 million human beings are being held in concentration camps where they are beaten, starved, and forced to work long hours in conditions that can only be described as inhumane. Their relatives often have no idea where they are or whether they are alive. They are dying each day due to the cruelty of their living conditions and the brutality of the Chinese Government, which executes them with impunity.

Within these concentration camps, the Uyghurs are used as slave labor to make goods and products for unsuspecting American consumers. Each day, millions of us unknowingly buy, use, and transport products made by the hands of people who are held in these government-run detention centers while their families wait for some proof of life that may never come.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote for H.R. 6270.

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Ms. WATERS. Wexton), a distinguished member of the Financial Services Committee and the sponsor of this legislation.
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Ms. WATERS. Wexton).

Mr. Speaker, a report published earlier this year by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute noted that Nike, Adidas, and Apple all had supply chains that included Uyghur workers laboring under forced conditions. It is critical that investors in these companies be given the information they need to consider the legal, reputational, and financial risks associated with investing in these and other publicly traded U.S. companies with forced labor in their supply chain. And it is equally critical that, when required to disclose this information, these companies confront the reality of their choices and make decisions that don't contribute to suffering, racism, and death.

Representative Wexton's bill, H.R. 6270, is a necessary step in ending this injustice. Her bill would require the SEC to issue rules requiring publicly traded companies to annually disclose imports of manufactured goods and materials that originate or are sourced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It would also require the SEC and the GAO to provide information to Congress regarding these disclosures, as well as oversight.

So I would like to just speak briefly to the misleading letter from the Chamber of Commerce opposing H.R. 6270 on the grounds that a similar supply chain due diligence effort--that is, section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Congo conflict mineral law--failed and caused the situation to worsen. I am encouraged by their letter because, when your opponents have to use dishonest arguments to their make their case, Mr. Speaker, it means they have no legitimate ones to make.

So, despite every effort on the other side of the aisle to take down the conflict mineral law and to weaken and eliminate the conflict mineral rule, I am proud to say that support for section 1502 has been sustained by a sense of moral responsibility and by the fact that evidence is showing that the rule is having positive effects. Indeed, the conflict mineral rule continues to spur these intense efforts to operationalize and expand regional, national, and industry due diligence systems.

The U.N. Group of Experts on the DRC has reported that section 1502 ``has had a massive and welcome impact so far, requiring chain participants all over the world to take due diligence and conflict financing seriously. This should not and must not be thrown away or weakened.''

Likewise, H.R. 6270 is a critical component of the effort by the House to marshal the might of the United States economy and American conscience to make clear the reprehensible nature of China's actions on a minority in its country.

This bill complements another bill that passed the House last week, H.R. 6210, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. That bill provides mechanisms that will require the United States to establish a diplomatic strategy and issue reports that will assist all interested parties in implementing H.R. 6270 and provides complementary disclosures for public companies. So, if you supported H.R. 6210, Mr. Speaker, then you should also vote for H.R. 6270.

The bill before us also enjoys the support of a wide array of civic- minded organizations, including the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen, the Uyghur American Association, Human Rights First, and the Uyghur Human Rights Association.

We must all stand up against the unjust and inhumane treatment of the Uyghurs and push China to end this brutality once and for all. I believe that resolve will not weaken just because China happens to be the second largest economy in the world. Just as each Member of this Chamber knows that this is wrong, so do our U.S. companies, investors, and the American public.

So I would like to just relate to some of what Mr. Green has said as he tried to make our friends on the opposite side of the aisle understand why we are so invested in this legislation.

We are descendants of slaves--let me say that one more time; we are descendants of slaves--and when we learn about slavery anywhere in the world, we are opposed to it. There is no justification for it. It does not matter whether it is the principals or their associates who are involved with products and services, et cetera, as a result of slave labor. We are opposed to it, and we would ask our Members on the opposite side of the aisle to have a sensitivity to that when they oppose slavery no matter where it is and who is causing it.

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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire through the Chair if my colleague has any remaining speakers on his side. I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Speaker, disclosure may seem to be a small thing. It is a powerful thing. It will force publicly traded companies to audit their supply chains and ensure investors are better informed regarding their investments. Moreover, the reports Congress will receive under this legislation will help us shape our future legislative efforts.

In its letter, supporting H.R. 6270, the Uyghur American Association stated:

Passing the Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act of 2020, H.R. 6270, is one necessary step in leveraging our collective power to put a stop to this genocide.

Mr. Speaker, let me just take a moment to talk about slavery. And as I mentioned earlier, those of us who are descendants of slaves are very much always interested in what we can do to stop slavery wherever it is or to stop it before it starts.

Mr. Speaker and Members, let me just say, while my friend on the opposite side of the aisle makes an argument about the inconvenience and the loss of money to American firms, slavery is always about money. Slavery in this country was about labor. It was about using those who they brought over on slave ships from Africa to pick cotton, and to enrich those owners on the plantations that were involved with cotton as its major trade, as its major source of income and profit.

So we cannot be sympathetic to any argument that talks about it is going to inconvenience investors or American companies. Slavery is about exploitation and the use of other human beings in order, basically, to derive a profit from their work and from the fact that they are slaves. So when my friend on the opposite side of the aisle talks about, he, too, is sympathetic to the arguments that are made against slavery--and he points out that his own wife was a victim of slavery, as he talks about what happened to her and her family, as we all know, and we certainly are opposed to the Holocaust and what happened--let us focus on the fact that whether you are talking about the Holocaust or whether you are talking about slavery with the Uyghurs, whether you are talking about slavery that we experienced as African Americans brought over on slave ships, slavery is slavery no matter where it takes place.

So, no, we are not sympathetic to the fact that investors may lose money if, in fact, we stop slavery. We are not sympathetic to the fact that it is an inconvenience and that somehow the SEC should not be burdened with the responsibility to deal with this, they don't know how to deal with this.

Well, I will tell you something: History has taught us that for all of those who turned their backs and said, they didn't understand, they didn't see, but they didn't agree, but they didn't know what was going on, that is how these injustices continue, when people turn a blind eye.

I don't care whether it is the SEC or any other agency of government who can make the argument that they are not equipped to do what we are asking them to do. Then go and get your act together and get equipped because the Congress of the United States is charging you with this responsibility. And when you tell me that we should respect the SEC, saying that it has not had the kind of experience that is needed in order to deal with this issue, let me just share with you that I don't care whether it is an appointee by Obama or anybody else. One of the reasons I have created a subcommittee on diversity and inclusion is because most of the agencies of government, particularly in financial services, you don't have people who look like me who are going to stand up and take on these issues.

Unfortunately, a lack of caring, a lack of understanding, a lack of experience--or whatever you want to call it--we are about opening up these agencies so that we have people who will stand up, just like I am standing up here today, and teach you about that which you don't know, or you don't understand.

So when I take a look at the SEC or the OCC or the Treasury or the Federal Reserve, none of them, none of them have people in management positions who will talk about the experiences of those in this country--African Americans and our ancestors--in a way that will create the sensitivity for change. So we are always focused and centered on justice, and we understand injustice when we see it--we feel it very deeply--and we are opening up these agencies and we are providing the leadership on diversity and inclusion so that we can get people in these agencies who are willing to do the job and to help share the information that is needed to create change.

Mr. Speaker, again, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, which is a most important step towards protecting our investors and doing our part as global citizens. It is our moral imperative to do everything we can to stand up against injustice.

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