Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People Within the Chinese Communist Party Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. McCLAIN. Madam Chair, I am just confused. There is nothing in the bill that says we can't talk to them, right? There is nothing in the bill that says we can't talk to them. There is nothing in the bill that says we can't have diplomacy. What the bill says is: We don't need to fund our destroyers.

I am all for talking. How is that working for us? We talk to them ad nauseam, and what do they do? They continue to push the envelope and push the envelope, so I am sharing that maybe what we should do, since our talking doesn't work, is provide some sanctions.

I want to remind us, let's stick with the facts of the bill. It talks about sanctions. You can talk to them. There is nothing in the bill, unless I am missing something--and I would like you to show me in the bill where it says that we are not allowed to talk with them. Stop with the fear-mongering. Let's stick with the basics.

Madam Chair, I rise today to stress the need for the STOP CCP Act. The Chinese Communist Party has grown to be our greatest geopolitical threat. Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the CCP are working to turn the People's Republic of China into the dominant world superpower. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration stands by and continues to cozy up with Xi Jinping.

The CCP has shown us they will do anything to achieve global supremacy. Xi and his Central Committee have crushed Hong Kong's democracy. They have threatened to push the world into war over the free and democratic island nation of Taiwan. Xi has authorized the enslavement and genocide of the Uyghurs within his own country. Recently, the CCP has used their Navy to ram other vessels in the South China Sea to intimidate neighboring nations.

How is the talking going? Today, the talking and the strategy of diplomacy have gone so well that the CCP launched an ICBM into the Pacific Ocean. Maybe we should just call them and say, ``Don't do that anymore'' because they respond so well to that.

For far too long, these atrocities and aggression have gone unchecked and without consequences. Well, I say not anymore. Congress and the United States must send a message that the deliberate disregard for human rights, international norms, and blatant bullying will no longer be tolerated.

I wish words would work, but they don't. They haven't.

Let me remind everyone who may be skeptical about the Chinese Communist Party's intentions: Nothing happens in China without the approval of Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the CCP.

While I wholeheartedly support the numerous pieces of legislation that have passed this Chamber aimed at countering the CCP's nefarious acts, none of them have targeted the core problem, the actual individuals who are giving the orders.

It is time to begin to deal with the root of the problem. The STOP CCP Act places significant sanctions on Xi Jinping and members of his Central Committee in response to their decades of aggression, human rights abuses, and outright threats to democracies around the world.

Xi's goal is to cover the world in communism. We are the ones who stand in his way, which is why, instead of opposing my bill, the White House should get tough with the CCP. Let's try a different strategy, one that may actually work.

Every time China crosses a line, Biden sends officials to Beijing. That is embarrassing. We do not need to coddle an aggressor. You need to deal with them from a position of strength, not weakness. It is time we draw a line in the sand, say enough is enough, and stop funding our destroyers.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I thank Congressmen Panetta, Buchanan, and Pappas for joining me in this effort to hold the true culprits within the CCP accountable for their heinous acts.

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