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Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul led a letter with other Republican members of the Committee to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to bring the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to the House Floor for a vote. 

“We urge you to stop delaying floor consideration of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act,” the lawmakers wrote. “…the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim religious and ethnic minority groups at the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is nothing less than the moral test of our time. Speaking with a united, bipartisan voice on the CCP’s gravest human rights abuse is essential as we reorient the United States’ policy towards the PRC, the greatest national and economic security threat of this generation.”

The letter was signed by:

Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) and Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL)

The full text of the letter can be found here or below. 

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

We urge you to stop delaying floor consideration of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). As you know, the House bill passed the Foreign Affairs Committee on April 21, and the Senate bill was received in the House on July 16. Both passed without any opposition.

As you know well, the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim religious and ethnic minority groups at the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is nothing less than the moral test of our time. Speaking with a united, bipartisan voice on the CCP’s gravest human rights abuse is essential as we reorient the United States’ policy towards the PRC, the greatest national and economic security threat of this generation.

It was encouraging that bipartisan legislation to designate the CCP’s crimes against Uyghurs as genocide was included in this year’s NDAA via an amendment that passed with a voice vote. Doing so will bring the House into consensus with two successive United States administrations, as well as our parliamentary counterparts in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Czechia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Canada.

However, it is extremely concerning that no legislation imposing real world consequences in response to this genocide has received floor consideration this Congress. The backlog now includes multiple pieces of Committee-passed legislation, most significantly the UFLPA.

This lengthy delay stands in contrast with the Democratic majority’s record on Uyghur issues under the prior administration. Last year, you put the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act up for a vote 12 days after it was received from the Senate. You also put the UFLPA on the floor without waiting for a Committee markup, where it passed with over 400 votes. Both the House and Senate measures would pass the House resoundingly, if put up for a vote.

The CCP’s ongoing genocide against Uyghurs shows how abuses of human rights globally can become threats to American values here at home, because the products of this genocide continue to flow into our cities and towns. It is well past time to move legislation addressing these threats to the House floor and to the President’s desk, and we strongly urge you to begin with the UFLPA as soon as possible.

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