Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Meeks for yielding me the time and for his incredible leadership on this issue. I also want to thank Ranking Minority Member McCaul for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, many products used every day by people all over our country, including clothing, food, and shoes, are made using forced labor, the forced labor of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities held by the Chinese Government across a network of internment camps.

It has been illegal to import forced labor products into the United States for more than 90 years, but it is exceedingly difficult to spot them since Chinese producers often mix together products that are the result of both involuntary and voluntary labor. Moreover, the lack of Chinese Government transparency and the police state atmosphere in Xinjiang make auditing of product sourcing unreliable if not impossible, according to the administration's ``Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory.''

Mr. Speaker, the imperative to act is clear. This is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue. It is a moral issue.

There is already strong, diverse, bipartisan, and bicameral support for this legislation on both sides of the Capitol. That includes my colleagues on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Representative Chris Smith and Senator Marco Rubio, the author of the Senate bill.

I, too, want to especially thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her longtime advocacy for human rights in China and for her leadership in getting this bill to the House floor today. I want to thank Chairman Richard Neal, Chairman Gregory Meeks, and Chairwoman Maxine Waters for their support in their committees.

The House of Representatives passed this bill in September 2020 by a vote of 406-3, but, sadly, the Senate did nothing. It never took it up. The Senate now passed a version of this bill in July. It is time for us to get this done.

Two years ago, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, of which I serve as the co-chair, held a hearing and an expert roundtable and issued a groundbreaking staff report. This legislation would not be possible without the hardworking staff of that Commission.

Our findings of systematic and widespread forced labor in Xinjiang are based on testimony from camp detainees, satellite imagery of factories being built at internment camps, and public and leaked Chinese Government documents.

Forced labor was one of the justifications cited by the State Department, first by Secretary Pompeo and then reiterated by Secretary Blinken, in determining that the Chinese Government was committing genocide against Uyghurs and members of other Muslim ethnic minority groups.

Forced labor was listed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in its November 2021 report finding that the Chinese Government had committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act prohibits imports from Xinjiang to the U.S. by creating a rebuttable presumption that all goods produced in the region are made with forced labor unless U.S. Customs and Border Protection certifies by clear and convincing evidence that goods were not produced with forced labor.

Mr. Speaker, in 2 months, the Chinese Government will host the Winter Olympics in the middle of a genocide. This is unconscionable. We asked the International Olympic Committee to postpone and move the games. They refused. Instead, the IOC made ANTA, a Chinese company implicated in slave labor, its official sportswear uniform supplier.

I am pleased that the Biden administration has decided not to send American diplomats to the Olympics, but Congress needs to do its part by passing this bill before the Olympics start. We must take a clear moral position to stand with those who are suffering from forced labor and not with the Chinese Government, the IOC, and the big corporations who profit off the exploitation of slave labor. Shame on them. No more business as usual.

We must pass and put into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. I urge all of my colleagues to support this. If the United States of America stands for anything, we need to stand out loud and four-square for human rights.

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