Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 And 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague on the Rules Committee, Mr. Hastings, for yielding me time. I commend him for his hard work on foreign relations issues.

Mr. Chair, today this Congress takes action to support our country's interests around the world.

A strong foreign service and a healthy State Department are not luxuries. They are absolute necessities in today's foreign policy climate.

Our country has historically shouldered great responsibilities on the international stage. From combating nuclear proliferation, to spurring international development, to protecting and advancing human rights around the world, the challenges we face as a country are great.

Two of these challenges particularly hit home for me, Mr. Chair.

As most of us know, two American journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea this week after an abrupt and questionable trial.

One of these reporters grew up in my hometown of Sacramento. Her family continues to maintain ties to the Sacramento community.

I know that the State Department is doing everything in its power to secure the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee. I commend and support our government's efforts to bring these brave and courageous two women back home.

With today's bill, Congress is doing its part to ensure that Americans in similar situations around the world know that their country will never abandon them.

Our responsibility as a nation is not only to those fortunate to call themselves ``Americans,'' though. Another issue of urgent importance is the plight of about 5,000 Hmong refugees in Thailand.

These refugees, including many women and children, have fled persecution in their homecountry of Laos based on historical grievances dating back to the Vietnam War era. They now live in unspeakably harsh conditions in a refugee camp in the Petchabun province of Thailand, and are under constant threat of being forcibly repatriated back to Laos to face certain persecution.

Our State Department has been working tirelessly to save the Hmong from this near-certain death sentence, and I have supported these efforts in every way that I can. I have written letters to the Thai government and to our own foreign policy leadership, asking them to spare the Hmong from any further suffering.

We have a responsibility to protect innocent people, Mr. Chair, just as we have a responsibility to protect our own in countries like North Korea.

Today's legislation gives our government the tools it needs to carry out this essential mission. It helps us strengthen our role in influencing world affairs so that we can work toward a future where basic human rights and dignity are respected the world over.

For this reason, I strongly support the bill before us today, Mr. Chair. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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