Falun Gong Protection Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4132, the Falun Gong Protection Act, introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Rep. Scott Perry.

The issue of the forced harvesting of human organs is one that is so horrific, and so evil, that it has truly consumed me ever since evidence of the practice began to trickle out at the end of the last century.

I held a congressional hearing in 2012 that focused on ``Organ Harvesting of Religious and Political Dissidents by the Chinese Communist Party,'' though as early as 1998, witnesses at hearings I chaired had testified to the taking of organs from executed prisoners by Chinese government officials. This heinous practice soon matriculated to the most cruel instrument of religious and political persecution, targeting in particular peaceful practitioners of the Falun Gong religion.

I co-convened a follow-up hearing in June of 2016 on ``Organ Harvesting: An Examination of a Brutal Practice.'' I noted at the time that the gruesome practice was not limited to the People's Republic of China--ISIS, for example, issued fatwas allowing the harvesting of organs of ``infidels,'' and Eritrean trafficking victims who could not produce sufficient funds were placed on a gurney and carved up in human chop shops in the Sinai peninsula. Yet by far and away the most systematic, and state-sanctioned harvesting of human organs, has occurred in Communist China.

In 2022, a meta study came out in the American Journal of Transplantation that examined over 2,800 Chinese language academic articles concluding that Chinese transplant surgeons had routinely violated the ``dead donor'' rule, unethically removing organs before victims had been declared brain dead. Since 2015, data indicated that Chinese hospitals have performed many times more organ transplants than the highest estimates of ethically-available donors can account for.

I thus invited one of the authors of that study, Dr. Matthew Robertson, to testify at a hearing I convened at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on ``Forced Organ Harvesting in China: Examining the Evidence.''

Finally, just this past March, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing which I chaired on ``Stopping the Crime of Organ Harvesting--What More Must Be Done?''

Shockingly, one of our witnesses, Dr. Maya Mitalipova, from MIT, implicated an American company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, in selling kits to identify human leukocyte antigens and other DNA profiling products in China, which enables the finding of compatible organ matches, to be obtained forcibly from hapless and helpless ``donors,'' killed for their organs.

Beyond the hearings I have held over the years, I introduced the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act in 2021, and again reintroduced this bill at the beginning of this Congress. Indeed, our legislation passed out of the House over a year ago, in March of 2023, and has been languishing in the Senate since then.

I view Rep. Perry's and my legislation as complementary, and I call upon the House to pass Mr. Perry's bill, and the Senate to move H.R. 1154, the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023, so that it can arrive on the President's desk for his signature.

Finally, I note that the just-released State Department 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report has focused its attention on the trafficking of persons for the purpose of organ removal as a topic of special interest, citing reports of systematic, forcible removal of organs from political prisoners by the government of the People's Republic of China.

That the State Department did so I believe was in part due to the pressure imposed by Congress, which underscores the importance of what we are doing here today.

I therefore call upon the House to pass H.R. 4132, and the Senate to move H.R. 1154 onto the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Georgia, for yielding, and I thank my colleagues for their support of the bill. It is amazing, and it is very frightening that in 2024 we are having this discussion on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Since the early 1990s, the Falun Gong has been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party. The Falun Gong is a spiritual practice of mind and body in which adherents follow the core principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance.

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party estimated that 70 to 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong, the equivalent of 5 to 7 percent of the Chinese population today. Mr. Speaker, Falun Gong's popularity quickly initiated violent persecution, including illegal detentions, forced labor, torture, and, yes, forced organ harvesting, which is a form of mass murder.

This is something out of the thirties and Josef Mengele, but it is happening today.

On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party detained hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners and banned any further practice of this religion. Since this date, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to escalate its systematic oppression against Falun Gong practitioners.

On March 1, 2020, the Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China found there to be an incomprehensible gap between the number of transplant operations carried out in the People's Republic of China in comparison to the number of eligible registered donors.

What does that mean?

That means in China, Mr. Speaker, if you have got the money, then there is no waiting list for you to get an organ. Go anywhere else in the civilized world and find that.

What would that mean?

That means there is a ready supply of these organs, because there is.

Now their report concluded that forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been and probably are the main source of organs for forced organ harvesting.

In the U.S., many of those working in organ transplantation and those who benefit from transplantation systems are likely unaware. They just don't know of China's illegal practices.

Through its repressive control of information, the CCP has created the infrastructure and resources needed to persecute millions of its own citizens, not only Falun Gong practitioners, but also Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, and any other the Chinese Communist Party chooses to target.

This bill is the first binding commitment by Congress to take strong legal action against the persecution and the forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong, making Falun Gong the centerpiece of legislation, an action long overdue after 25 years.

The Falun Gong Protection Act imposes sanctions on those who participate in or facilitate the forced harvesting of organs in China. This bill directs the Secretary of State to determine whether the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong constitutes crimes against humanity or genocide alongside a required report on the CCP's organ transplant policies and practices.

The Communist Party of China doesn't want us to see this. When you take a trip to China, Mr. Speaker, and see all the wonderful things and the wonderful people there, they are not going to invite you to see this. It is going to take us looking. It is going to take us focusing on it.

Additionally, H.R. 4132 makes it U.S. policy to avoid any cooperation with the People's Republic of China in the illicit organ transplant industry.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I thank my friends on both sides of the aisle for their support.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the

bill (H.R. 4132) to provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, for decades the House of Representatives has been raising alarms about the ghoulish organ harvesting perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party.

The People's Republic of China executes thousands of people a year, several times more than the rest of the

world combined, but they hide those killings from outsiders, claiming that execution information is a state secret.

Behind that veil of secrecy lies a terrifying reality. For years, testimony and investigative reports have asserted that organs are forcibly harvested as part of an extremely lucrative trade in human organs for transplant into those in the good graces of the party, and for those, including foreigners, willing to pay top dollar.

As summarized in 2021 by United Nations human rights officials, ``forced organ harvesting in China appears to be targeting specific ethnic, linguistic, or religious minorities held in detention, often without being explained the reasons for arrest or given arrest warrants.''

Falun Gong adherents and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang are among those reportedly targeted. Certain religious and ethnic minority detainees are reportedly subjected to nonconsensual tests not required of other prisoners, such as blood tests, organ exams, and ultrasound scans, with the results being entered into a database of living organ sources.

These depraved CCP abuses must stop. The bill before us today requires the identification and sanctioning of those involved in China's involuntary organ harvesting.

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) and his bipartisan cosponsors for introducing this legislation. I also commend Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Meeks for marking it up and getting it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), who is the author of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, the idea that a member of a religious minority could be targeted and killed so that their organs could be harvested is worthy of a horror movie. It violates the basic tenets of our God-given rights, but that is allegedly what

the Chinese Communist Party has been doing for years.

This bill before us today will impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions against those responsible for such atrocities. It deserves our unanimous support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4132, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4132 imposes sanctions on individuals who knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting of organs within the People's Republic of China. The State Department's 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices highlight that the Government of the PRC has been accused of forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents.

The illegal harvesting of organs is not only a violation of human rights but also an assault on human dignity. Imagine the terror and despair of those who are imprisoned for their beliefs, only to have their organs forcibly taken from them. These individuals are subjected to unimaginable suffering, their most basic rights stripped away, and their bodies violated in the most grotesque manner. This is not just a statistic or a distant issue, these are real people, people with families and dreams who endure unbelievable pain and fear.

The House has already spoken on this issue by passing Mr. Smith's Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act in March. Today we have another opportunity to take a stand against this inhumane practice. By supporting H.R. 4132, we are sending a clear message that the United States will not tolerate such egregious violations of human rights. This bill ensures that those who knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated forced organ harvesting face significant sanctions.

We don't know a lot about this crime of forced organ harvesting, but the report required in this bill will give us a better understanding of the scope of the problem so that we may address it in a targeted way. We cannot remain silent in the face of such cruelty. We must stand up for the victims, show them that they are not forgotten, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

It is our moral duty to act, to protect the vulnerable, and to uphold human dignity. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, by supporting H.R. 4132, we are sending a clear message that the United States will sanction those who knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated involuntary harvesting of organs within the People's Republic of China. This legislation sheds light on and condemns this horrific practice and holds to account those responsible.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.