Expressing support for Chinese human rights activists Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren for engaging in peaceful expression as they seek answers and justice for the parents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008.

Mr. Speaker, it is a tragedy when any child is killed. It is an abomination when the act of asking questions about one's child's death leads to harassment or persecution by one's own government.

We all remember when a major earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China, on May 12, 2008. It was the most devastating natural disaster to hit China in over three decades. That day, I was the first personally to present condolences to the Chinese people for their grievous loss. Particularly heartbreaking were the stories of the children who were killed as their school buildings collapsed around them and the images of parents overwhelmed with grief.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, these parents started questioning why school buildings collapsed at a much higher rate than other types of buildings. They allege that poor construction and corruption among local officials and builders contributed to the school building collapses.

These allegations have been stonewalled or, worse, resulted in the harassment of the complainants. Chinese courts have refused to hear lawsuits brought by the parents. Local officials have even kept some complaining parents in arbitrary detention. As a parent myself, I find it a tragic failure of justice to have these grievances go unaddressed, especially if a society chooses to enforce a one-child policy.

Two human rights activists from Sichuan's capital city of Chengdu attempted to stand up for these grieving parents and give voice to their concerns. Soon after the earthquake truck, Mr. Huang Qi posted articles on his Web site, the Tianwang Human Rights Center, about the parents' demands for an investigation into the school building collapses.

Separately, in February of this year Mr. Tan Zuoren issued a proposal on the Internet calling for volunteers to travel to Sichuan to compile lists of students killed in the quake, to document the parents' treatment, and to conduct an investigation of school building construction.

Mr. Tan's report criticized officials for failing to follow through on their commitments to fully investigate the role that inferior construction played in the school building collapses and for failure to deal with the parents' demands.

For these actions, the local Chengdu municipal government charged both Mr. Huang and Mr. Tan with endangering national security. Mr. Huang was charged with illegally possessing state secrets, and Mr. Tan was also charged with inciting subversion of state power. After months of being held in prison, Mr. Huang for over a year, both of these men were put on trial in August of this year.

There are allegations that both trials were fraught with numerous substantive and procedural violations. In the case of Mr. Tan, the parents of the earthquake victims said they were detained to prevent them from attending the trial.

The court reportedly rejected requests from Mr. Tan's lawyers to call three witnesses, including the noted architectural designer, Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Beijing Olympics' Bird's Nest Stadium and who also was investigating student deaths in the Sichuan earthquake. According to Mr. Ai, police came to his hotel and used force to prevent him and 10 others from leaving the premises until after the trial ended.

Mr. Huang's trial was allegedly fraught with similar violations, including the detention of a volunteer from the Tianwang Human Rights Center to prevent him from testifying on Mr. Huang's behalf.

To date, judgments have not issued in either Mr. Huang's or Mr. Tan's trial. The trials have been suspended or held open. Both men continue to be held in prison.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to pass House Resolution 877 to express their support for Mr. Huang's and Mr. Tan's peaceful request for answers and justice on behalf of the parents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earthquake. This bipartisan resolution, with 176 cosponsors, calls on the Chinese government to adhere to its own constitutional guarantees, its own criminal procedure laws, and its own recently passed national human rights action plan to ensure that Mr. Huang and Mr. Tan and all Chinese citizens are accorded the right to free speech and the right to criticize and make suggestions to their government as guaranteed by their own Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, no one who suffers the loss of a child deserves abandonment by or punishment from his or her own government. Support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 877) expressing support for Chinese human rights activists

Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren for engaging in peaceful expression as they seek answers and justice for the parents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of this resolution. This resolution expresses support for two Chinese activists who have been crusading for answers and justice for the parents of the thousands of children killed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008.

I would like to thank my friend the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu) for introducing this resolution and for bringing the plight of these two activists to our attention.

This past August, Chinese courts held separate trials for Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren, both of whom sought to help the parents of children who died in the collapses of school buildings during the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. That devastating earthquake left almost 69,000 people dead and 18,000 missing. Five thousand three hundred thirty-five children were, according to official records, killed or missing in that earthquake.

The collapse of such a large number of schools, while nearby buildings remained standing, raised questions of shoddy construction. Chinese officials acknowledged that poor construction may have contributed to the buildings' collapse.

They also initially pledged to investigate the collapses and punish those responsible. But officials later were unwilling to honor those commitments and, even worse, responded with suppression and harassment.

Mr. Huang publicized the parents' demands on his human rights Web site, while Mr. Tan organized an independent investigation into the causes of the collapses. For their actions, the Chinese Government charged Mr. Huang with illegal possession of state secrets and Mr. Tan with inciting subversion. The pair's separate trials were reportedly marred by procedural irregularities and misconduct, and both

their trials have adjourned without verdicts issued.

Mr. Huang and Mr. Tan were engaged in peaceful activities guaranteed under China's constitution and international law, and this resolution urges the Chinese Government to protect their rights to freedom of speech, expression and association.

The resolution also calls on the Chinese Government to allow parents, concerned citizens and the media to conduct their own investigations into the school collapses, free from harassment or interference. I urge the Chinese Government to provide greater transparency regarding its own investigations into the building collapses and release any information it may have.

The parents of those children killed at the school during the earthquake deserve answers and deserve justice. Mr. Tan and Mr. Huang deserve our support for their efforts in trying to help those parents.

I strongly urge the resolution be supported.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu), a former member of our committee and the sponsor of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega), the chairman of the Asia, Pacific, and Global Environment Subcommittee.

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), a very distinguished member of our committee.

I am pleased to yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute simply to point out that the relevance of the size of the Democratic health care bill to the Republican alternative is, I think, limited to the ratio of people covered under the Democratic bill and covered under the Republican bill, about 10 to 1.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

I thank the gentlewoman for the time. The resolution before us deals with China, and many of our jobs are going to go to China if the health care bill the Democrats are proposing is enacted. The administration is using the American Medical Association and AARP to garner support for their health care bill. The AMA House of Delegates is meeting today in Houston, Texas. It is made up of elected representatives from across the country, representing doctors and their members of the AMA. They meet to vote on policy issues affecting doctors. They're saying that it was an unauthorized vote of the board prior to the delegates arriving that went to support this bill.

AMA doctors are demanding a vote of no confidence against the board of directors. In fact, there are two resolutions that they're demanding to be heard tomorrow. One is from the rank-and-file membership and members of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association. It reads: ``We of the rank and file membership and the members of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association do hereby object to your recent vote supporting H.R. 3962, also known as the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

``Whereas, H.R. 3962 will change the practice of medicine in America forever; and whereas, the AMA leadership voted to support H.R. 3962 prior to the convening of our House of Delegates; and whereas the AMA House of Delegates has strong feelings, beliefs that in many cases grave misgivings regarding H.R. 3962; and whereas the AMA leadership has denied our membership full discussion on this vitally important issue, we the undersigned do hereby demand, prior to addressing any

item of business on the current agenda, immediate suspension of the rules of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association.''

And they called for a ``full discussion and debate of H.R. 3962, including a vote of no confidence in our leadership by the members of the House of Delegates.'' A very, very strong statement.

The second resolution was filed, and it's called Resolution 1006. It was introduced by the Alabama delegation, the Arkansas delegation, the Delaware delegation, the District of Columbia delegation, the Florida delegation, the Georgia delegation, the Kansas delegation, Louisiana delegation, the New Jersey delegation, the South Carolina delegation, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the American Society of General Surgeons and Triological Society.

The subject is ``Withdrawal support of H.R. 3962.'' Obviously, there is a problem that doctors are having with this bill. AARP has also come out saying that they represent seniors supporting this bill. But you have to look at this bill. I represent over 70,000 Medicare-eligible seniors in my district alone. The bill cuts over $500 billion out of Medicare starting in 2010, including $23.9 billion in cuts to skilled nursing facilities, $143.6 billion in cuts to hospitals, including skilled nursing facilities, long-term care facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, psychiatric hospitals and hospital care. Again, $143.6 billion in cuts to hospitals.

Worst of all is $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage, which effectively will eliminate Medicare Advantage in the future. You can't support this bill and say you support seniors and you support doctors who represent their patients. With unemployment over 10.2 percent, a 26-year high, in reality it's 17.5 percent when you include the individuals who are discouraged trying to find jobs and they can't find them and those who are underemployed having part-time jobs and would really prefer to work full time.

We have a problem in this country. We've passed a stimulus bill that said unemployment would not go above 8 percent. It's 10.2 percent today. It said it would not go up to 8 percent and lose more jobs, and it lost over 3 million jobs since then. We need to look at what we're doing. We need to say we care about the American people; we care about those people who are going to be taxed to pay for this; and we care about a system of health care that's the best in the world that will be ruined.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of this resolution, which addresses the unjust incarceration of two Chinese human rights advocates whose only crime was to seek answers and justice for the parents of children killed in the collapse of a schoolhouse during a major earthquake last year. Any parent would understand this resolution.

This is about dead school children. This is about accountability. These courageous individuals sought such accountability from a government which allowed the construction of substandard buildings for school children, buildings which could not withstand the aftershocks of a major quake.

It has been widely assumed in China that the building materials used for these schools were substandard due to the corruption involving those officials who authorized the construction. Grieving parents have a right to know why their children died after being buried in rubble, but their efforts for legal redress were summarily dismissed. These two brave men sought answers for the grieving parents, but their efforts led to their own imprisonment on trumped-up charges followed by trials in kangaroo courts.

How can anyone call the Chinese regime a responsible stakeholder when it uses its massive police force and its court system to engage in a major cover-up of corruption which led to the deaths of innocent children? And how can America be silent to such blatant defiance of not only the rule of law but also what is considered decent and moral?

This resolution is more than just about two human rights activists, heroic victims of injustice though they are. This is about a totalitarian system which is so afraid of its own population that it resorts to harsh and brutal measures to conceal the truth about the deaths of innocent school children.

This is about the massive human rights abuses such as the continued persecutions of tens of thousands of Falun Gong petitioners, an issue addressed in a resolution which I introduced with wide bipartisan support months ago but which has yet to reach the floor of this Chamber. This is about the continued repression of the Tibetan and Uyghur people and the need to engage in truth-telling with their leaders, the Dalai Lama and Ms. Kadeer, not only in Beijing, but in the White House here in Washington, D.C.

This is about speaking truth to power. It is about President Obama during his upcoming summit in China putting human rights and religious freedom issues squarely on the table, instead of just agreeing to disagree.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California, my good friend, Mr. Lewis, the ranking member on the Committee on Appropriations.

(Mr. LEWIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), the ranking member on Appropriations, on Commerce, Justice, and Science, and a longtime advocate of human rights for the people of China and elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary G. Miller), an esteemed member of the Financial Services and Transportation Committees.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), a member on the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), a member of the Committees on Agriculture, Education, and Natural Resources.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on September 17, 2009 I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 710, concerning H.R. 3221. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``no.''

On September 23, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 732, a motion to adjourn. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``no.''

On September 30, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 744, concerning H.R. 1771, the Chesapeake Bay Science, Education and Ecosystem Enhancement Act. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On November 7, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 880, concerning H. Res. 877, expressing support for Chinese activists. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On December 16, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 980, concerning H. Res. 973. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On January 27, 2010, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 25, concerning H. Res. 1020. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On February 22, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 49, regarding H.R. 4425. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On February 22, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall vote 50, regarding H.R. 4238. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On February 23, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 53, concerning H. Res, 1059. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On March 4, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 85, concerning H. Res. 1086. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On March 21, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 168, concerning H. Res. 1099. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On March 21, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 169, concerning H. Res. 1119. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On March 23, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 172, concerning H. Res. 1205. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On April 14, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 199, concerning H. Res, 1236. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 13, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 271, concerning H. Res. 1338. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 13, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 272, concerning H. Res. 1337. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 20, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 290, concerning H.R. 5128. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 24, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 292, concerning H.R. 1017. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 27, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 306, concerning an adjournment of the House of Representatives. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On May 27, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 313, regarding H.R. 5136. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On June 16, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 366, regarding H. Res. 1422. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On July 22, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 464, concerning H.R. 5341. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

On September 23, I inadvertently failed to cast a recorded vote on rollcall 535, concerning H. Res. 1640. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted ``aye.''