Nomination of Amy Coney Barrett

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, General Secretary Xi is a dictator and human rights violator. He is yet another Communist leader trying to be the dominant world power.

The Chinese Communist Party is stripping the people of Hong Kong of their freedoms, cracking down on dissidents, militarizing the South China Sea, supporting Maduro's genocide in Venezuela, surveilling its citizens, and imprisoning more than 1 million Uighurs in internment camps simply because of their religion.

Communist China is committing genocide against the Uighurs. It doesn't end there. Recent reports indicate that the Communist Party of China is attempting the same thing in Tibet, forcing hundreds of thousands of people in Tibet into mass labor camps. We know the Chinese Communist Party and their puppets continue to silence and intimidate those standing up for democracy and human rights. They detain and harass journalists to try and prevent the truth from getting out. Foreigners and journalists working and traveling in Communist China do so at their own risk.

Just last week, Communist China began threatening to take Americans as hostages. The national security threat of Communist China cannot be taken lightly. The censorship of these human rights abuses cannot be ignored.

General Secretary Xi doesn't want us to know about the oppression occurring under his regime. For years, the Communist Government in China has tried to push its propaganda in America through state-owned media outlets while refusing to treat American journalists in China fairly. We saw this firsthand earlier this year. Chinese-backed propaganda outlets peddled China's lies about the coronavirus and endangered the lives of Americans.

In March, the Chinese Communist Party expelled more than a dozen U.S. journalists and required other outlets to submit written reports of their staff, finances, operations, and real estate in China. We cannot allow this mistreatment to continue, and we have to take action.

I am proud to sponsor the Chinese-Backed Media Accountability Act to create accountability for Communist China's censorship of free speech and failure to treat American journalists fairly. My bill prevents new visas to Chinese-backed journalists until we know exactly how many Chinese propaganda journalists are operating in the United States, and it creates reciprocity by making sure the number of Chinese-backed journalists in the United States is equal to the amount of independent American journalists allowed in China.

We have to stand up and say that this behavior by Communist China is unacceptable, and I look forward to all of my colleagues' supporting this proposal.

4797 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I am disappointed my Democratic colleague doesn't want to focus on the global impact of General Secretary Xi's censorship. I clearly don't understand why my Democratic colleagues refuse to stand up to Communist China. They have stopped every attempt to protect Americans from this threat.

Again and again, the Democrats block efforts to hold Communist China accountable and never try to work with us to come up with solutions.

They blocked my resolution to move the 2022 Olympics out of Communist China. They blocked my bill to prevent Communist China from stealing or sabotaging American COVID-19 vaccine research, even as American lives depend on the rapid development of this vaccine.

Now they are turning a blind eye to the censorship of American journalists in China. Chinese state-backed journalists in America push the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party. It is time to wake up and understand that the oppression at the hand of General Secretary Xi and the Chinese Government Party will not stop.

This is about the safety of Americans and about freedom around the world. This is about standing up for human rights.

We must act, and passing the Chinese-Backed Media Accountability Act takes real steps to hold Communist China accountable for their failure to treat American journalists fairly.

I am not going to stop working to make sure there is reciprocity between our nations and that we understand how many Chinese propaganda journalists are operating in the United States. We must, together, do everything in our power to fight for freedom and hold Communist China and General Secretary Xi accountable, and I hope, at some point, my Democratic colleagues will join me in this fight.

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