Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in opposition to H.R. 5665.

All Americans can agree that persecution against any person or any group on the basis of religion is wrong. Religious tolerance is a fundamental value upon which this Nation was founded, which is why the free exercise of religion is protected in the very first amendment to our Constitution.

That same fundamental principle is why I persistently, in a bipartisan manner, supported the Rohingya Muslims who have been oppressed, victimized, and suffered genocide at the hands of the Burmese military. This principle also explains why the Ambassador At Large for International Religious Freedom and two other human rights offices at the State Department are already doing the work called for in this legislation.

However, the reasons to oppose this bill go beyond mere redundancy. It is also significantly flawed because Democrats have refused to include a definition of Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement--the very subject matter the bill purports to address. In fact, Democrats voted down an amendment that I offered in committee to exclude legitimate criticism from what counts as Islamophobia.

As a result, this bill doesn't make it clear whether the term Islamophobia includes, for example, criticizing radical Islamic terrorist groups or calling out the persecution of Christians. Is it Islamophobic to oppose unacceptably intolerant blasphemy laws, or criticize those who call for the destruction of Israel?

What about criticizing the Taliban's brutal repression of women, or condemning those who deny the Holocaust, as Iran's Supreme Leader has repeatedly done?

While clearly, none of these criticisms should be considered Islamophobic, it is deeply concerning that this bill's supporters have refused to protect such legitimate free speech. Thus, this legislation could be used to label almost any criticism of Islam, including criticism of Sharia law as Islamophobic.

It is almost as if its goal is to shut down all debate and protect Islam from any criticism in polite society. Thus, we get to the core problem of this bill--it treats the persecution of Muslims as uniquely unacceptable. Let's face it, pretty much every religion faces persecution, as anyone who has studied history can attest.

Arguably, Christians endured global persecution equal to or worse than Muslims. Further, Hindus, the Falun Gong, the Baha'is, Tibetan Buddhists, even atheists all experience repression on some corner of the globe. While Muslims do face heinous genocides in China and Burma, Christians and Yazidis also faced genocide at the hands of the Islamic State not long ago.

Finally, this legislation ill-advisedly evaluates the persecution of Muslims to a special category similar to the legislation that created the special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. Unlike alleged Islamophobia, anti-Semitism is a truly unique problem. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the world realized just how pernicious anti-Semitism was and has been for centuries, and rightly sought to eliminate it.

Putting Islamophobia in the same category as anti-Semitism dramatically understates, even trivializes the historic and pervasive nature that makes anti-Semitism such a difficult problem to overcome. Such a dangerous false equivalence might be used by extremists to justify further anti-Semitic activity.

Madam Speaker, for these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

Madam Speaker, as co-chair of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Congressional Caucus, I rise today to celebrate 30 years of Kazakhstan's independence and three decades of the U.S.-Kazakhstan bilateral relationship. In 1991, the United States was the first country to recognize Kazakhstan's independence, and the relationship remains as important today as it was 30 years ago.

In 2010, the United States and Kazakhstan entered into a Strategic Partnership and launched the Annual Bilateral Consultations on a variety of issues including but not limited to regional cooperation and security, rule of law and economic development, and human rights and civil society. In 2018, the two countries elevated their cooperation to establish an Enhanced Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century, and agreed to heightened cooperation on a multitude of policy issues.

One of the strongest areas of cooperation between the United States and Kazakhstan has been in the economic arena. Since independence, U.S. companies have been a significant source of foreign direct investment for Kazakhstan, and over the past 30 years, U.S. investment in Kazakhstan has totaled an estimated $370 billion. Kazakhstan has worked hard to create a strong market economy, and the country has focused significant resources on rule of law issues to create a welcoming environment for all foreign investment.

Kazakhstan became a member of the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (``ICSID'') in 1992, a member of the World Trade Association (WTO) in 2015, and in 2017, Kazakhstan became a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 2018, the government officially launched the Astana International Finance Center (AIFC), which among other things, provides foreign investors with the opportunity to seek out an alternative jurisdiction for dispute resolution. Such investments in the rule of law in Kazakhstan have been an important step to grow Kazakhstan's market economy and continue to attract investment from the United States.

As we continue to grow our strong economic ties, I urge Congress to establish Permanent Normal Trade Relations for Kazakhstan as soon as possible. I was honored to recently join in the bipartisan effort to introduce H.R. 5544, which lifts Kazakhstan from the existing constraints of the outdated Jackson-Yanik Amendment. This graduation for Kazakhstan is long overdue. As Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over U.S. foreign policy issues affecting Central Asia, I understand what an important regional partner Kazakhstan has been to the United States during the past 30 years. But I also understand what an important role Kazakhstan will continue to play in the region moving forward, and any efforts to strengthen our economic ties will strengthen the bilateral relationship across the board.

So I would like to congratulate all the people of Kazakhstan as well as Kazakh-Americans taking part in the 30th anniversary celebrations this month.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 317, legislation which condemns China's genocide against the Uyghurs.

As ranking member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation, I strongly support this legislation and I commend both the chairman of the committee, Mr. Meeks, and the ranking member, Mr. McCaul, for their leadership on this particular issue.

They have been stressing this. They have been pushing this. They have been speaking out on this for quite some time now, and I am very pleased to see this come before the floor today. It is far beyond the time that action needs to be taken on this.

Mr. Speaker, the consistent undermining of human rights, perhaps the Chinese Communist Party's most fundamental challenge to the free world. China's totalitarian government, they have no use for human rights. Their bloody history demonstrates that. Relative to political freedom in China, one sees abuses from Tiananmen Square to Hong Kong. Freedom of speech? The great firewall shuts that down. Freedom of religion? The CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, persecutes Christians; they persecute the Falun Gong; they persecute Tibetan Buddhists; and they even want to dictate who the next Dalai Lama will be.

And the Chinese Communist Party has taken this campaign to a whole new level in Xinjiang where the Uyghurs are subject to forced labor, to torture, to sexual abuse, to religious persecution, and to onerous restrictions in every facet of their lives.

Over a million people, the vast majority of them Uyghurs, are in concentration camps today currently. While we are here, they are in concentration camps in China. The hallmark of genocide is the intent to destroy, to eliminate an entire people, and that intent is clear here. The Chinese Communist Party is snatching Uyghur children from their parents, imposing severe birth quotas on Uyghurs. They are conducting forced abortions. They are sterilizing a sizable percentage of the population against their will, and up to 80 percent in some areas of Xinjiang forced sterilization is occurring right now.

As a result of all this, the birth rate in Xinjiang fell by 24 percent--one out of four--in 2019 alone. This is genocide, and it is high time that the world got serious with the PRC, the People's Republic of China, about what they are doing to the Uyghurs. They have been doing it to a whole range of groups for a long time, but it is particularly brutal when it comes to the Uyghurs, and American businesses have to make sure that they are not profiting by this essentially slave labor, whatever businesses those are.

So there are things that we can do here in the United States but, ultimately, it is up to the PRC and it is up to the world to shine a light on this because this is happening right now. A million people or so are in these gulags right now.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank our leadership, and this is bipartisan leadership. It is Republicans and Democrats actually working together on this, and it is good to see that happen.

So again, I thank Mr. Meeks and Mr. McCaul for doing this.

Madam Speaker, inflation is at the highest level that we have seen in decades and rising. The cost of buying a home is up. The cost to fill your gas tank is up. The cost to feed your family is up. Even the cost of buying Christmas presents for your children or grandchildren is up.

While the pandemic certainly bears some blame, the failed policies of the Biden administration have made things considerably worse. His administration and his allies here in Congress have spent trillions of dollars that we don't have, which inevitably will lead to higher taxes and higher prices for items that hardworking Americans buy every day.

Despite the bad news nationally, one county in my congressional district actually has good news for its residents. Warren County Commissioners Tom Grossmann, Shannon Jones, and David Young announced recently that they would not be collecting property taxes from their residents this year. The commissioners are able to do this by exercising fiscal responsibility, as we ought to do here in the House, and putting aside money for a rainy day, rather than spending money that they didn't have.

Kudos to the Warren County commissioners for giving their taxpayers a little extra holiday cheer this year.

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to recognize and thank for her 32 years of public service, Lebanon, Ohio's, retiring mayor, Amy Brewer.

I had the pleasure of working with Amy on issues both large and small for 10 years now since Lebanon became part of my congressional district.

Mayor Brewer has been a tireless advocate for all things Lebanon since she was first elected to city council there in 1989. After serving on council for 12 years, she was elected mayor and has served in that capacity for the last 20 years.

Anyone who knows Amy knows that she is a bundle of energy and that she puts that enthusiasm to work for the people of, in my opinion, one of the most picturesque, welcoming, and family-oriented communities not only in Ohio, but in America.

Although saddened by Amy's retirement, the citizens of Lebanon have benefited in so many ways from her leadership, from the overall quality of life to improvements in the downtown landscape.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mayor Brewer for sharing the last 32 years of her remarkable life with the good people of Lebanon, Ohio.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California for her unyielding commitment to freedom and democracy across the globe. She has been a tremendous addition to this House of Representatives.

I rise today in support of H.R. 4686, the Cambodia Democracy Act. This is bipartisan legislation that I introduced, along with my Democratic colleague, Alan Lowenthal. He and I are co-chairs of the Cambodia Caucus, and we were pleased to champion this legislation. I want to note that our colleague, Ted Yoho, from Florida originally introduced this a few years back, but of course he has since retired from this great institution.

This legislation is a response to Prime Minister Hun Sen's ongoing

crackdown on his political opponents, which began in the runup to the Cambodian elections back in 2018. He arrested Kem Sokha, the leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, on bogus charges, and then proceeded to ban the whole party, and then persecute other leaders of that party. Hun Sen also shut down NGOs and independent media, including the National Democratic Institute and Radio Free Asia.

Unfortunately, four years later this crackdown hasn't let up. Hun Sen has kept the bogus charges hanging over Kem Sokha's head and prohibited him from participating in any political activity. He has also continued to target opposition politicians as well as civil society activists and journalists. In fact, starting last November, mass trials were held against opposition party members.

As a result, next year's commune elections will not have viable opposition party representation, which means that once again Cambodia's elections will be neither free nor fair.

Sadly, this latest crackdown is nothing new. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia since 1985, 36 years, making him the longest-serving head of state in Southeast Asia.

To date, Hun Sen hasn't really faced any stiff consequences for this behavior from the United States, and that is embarrassing. That is why the Cambodia Democracy Act imposes sanctions on those who participated in Hun Sen's illegal, arbitrary attempt to smother democracy.

By targeting those directly responsible and holding them accountable, it is our hope that we can get Hun Sen and his cronies to realize that the only path forward for that country is to allow free and fair elections. We must not forget that the principal victims of Hun Sen's repression are the Cambodian people themselves.

Next month we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, which clearly promises them democracy. So I would urge all my colleagues to help make good on the pledge made in the Paris Accords a long time ago by joining me to support this legislation and help put Cambodia back on the path to democracy.

I once again want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim) for her leadership in this effort.

Madam Speaker, I rise first in support of my amendment, the Gray Zone Assessment Act.

Whether we look at the annexation of Crimea, the militarization of the South China Sea, the economic coercion of Australia, or the cyberattacks that have stolen our data and crippled our industries, we see the same pattern. Our adversaries are using methods of coercion that lie somewhere in the so-called gray zone, between war and peace.

To make matters worse, thus far, we seem incapable of effectively responding to this aggression. It is well past time that we have a viable response.

Experts have identified several causes for our failure to deter these gray zone campaigns--in particular, our weakness at coordinating all of our tools of national power by requiring the GAO to take a hard look at these problems. My amendment aims to move forward a process of reform that will enable us to effectively counter the shadow war that China, Russia, and others are waging against us and against the free world.

I would also like to voice my support for Mr. Connolly's amendment, No. 114, the Global Health Security Act. After 18 months of lockdowns, masks, social distancing, school closures, and, worst of all, a mounting death toll, COVID-19 has taught us that a disease that starts at the other side of the world can pose a direct national security threat right here in America.

Back at the end of 2018, before COVID-19 even existed, Mr. Connolly and I recognized this threat and believed that Congress needed to support, direct, and provide oversight for our global health security work abroad.

We introduced the bipartisan Global Health Security Act to strengthen the U.S. and global capacity to better respond to outbreaks like COVID- 19. Passing this amendment will help us be prepared for the next virus so that it does not become a pandemic like this one did.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I again thank the ranking member and the chair.

Mr. Speaker, nearly 20 years ago, I introduced legislation in this House, which passed the House and the Senate. President George W. Bush signed it into law, and it went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and now is the law of the land. It banned partial-birth abortion in this country.

While that was landmark legislation, today, it is more important than ever that we protect innocent unborn life.

That is why, a little over a month ago, the city of Lebanon in my congressional district back home became one of more than 30 cities across the country, and the first in Ohio, to become a sanctuary city for the unborn.

It is why I have consistently and enthusiastically supported legislation which would get rid of the funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates and supported legislation like H.R. 18, which codifies the Hyde amendment to ensure that Federal taxpayer money does not fund abortions.

And it is why, Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 18, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, and I ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

We should not allow tax dollars to go for funding other people's abortions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 391, the Global Health Security Act, bipartisan legislation which Congressman Gerry Connolly and I introduced to strengthen U.S. and global preparedness for, and capacity to respond to pandemics, like COVID-19. And I want to thank Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul for working with us to improve this Congress's version of the legislation in committee as the bill heads toward enactment.

After a year of lockdowns, masks, social distancing, working from home, school closures and worst of all, a horrific death here at

home and across the globe, COVID-19 has taught us, like nothing else has, the full costs of a pandemic. It has also shown us just how vulnerable the United States is to disease outbreaks on the other side of the world. A corrupt and opaque health system in China can cause millions of deaths here in America. China's politically-motivated censorship of coronavirus information early on caused the world untold suffering. But a disease like COVID-19 could start anywhere, and if it gets out, it can become a pandemic.

That is why, we must help less prepared countries identify and contain future emerging deadly diseases when they originate, and mitigate their impact before they have a chance to grow to pandemic scale.

When Mr. Connolly and I first introduced this legislation in 2018, COVID-19 didn't exist. However, we realized that Congress needed to support, direct, and provide oversight for ongoing global health security work and that the proper personnel needed to be in place to coordinate our response to an emerging disease threat.

The Global Health Security Act supports each of these goals. First, it gets personnel right. Second, it strengthens Congressional oversight over global health security work. Third, it provides a Congressional endorsement, and detailed guidance for, U.S. efforts to strengthen health systems and pandemic preparedness across the globe.

Witnessing the death toll and the economic devastation that COVID-19 brought, I think all Americans will agree with me that protecting our nation's health from future pandemics must be seen as a national security priority. As the United States comes out of the pandemic, and America returns to normal, we must recommit to leadership on global health security and prepare the world to face the next deadly disease before it becomes a pandemic.

So I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 402, which Congressman Brad Sherman and I introduced to call attention to India's COVID-19 second wave and press for needed assistance.

India's second wave has been a truly overwhelming challenge. As Co- Chair of the House Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I found the images in the press, the stories about the lack of oxygen, and the sheer scale of the crisis to be truly daunting. And the suffering is being felt not only in India but also right here at home by many of our constituents in the Indian American community, who have family members in India that are impacted by this deadly upswing in the pandemic.

While case rates in India continue to drop, passage of this resolution today shows that Congress and the American people are committed to helping India finish the battle against the second wave and prepare to win the war against COVID-19 altogether. Early in the pandemic, India helped us; it is our turn to offer a helping hand. We must continue to employ all effective measures to help them through this trying time.

The crisis in India is a potent reminder of the toll of this pandemic and of the importance of preparing ourselves and the world so that the next disease does not cause the damage we have seen as a result of

Madam Speaker, as Co-Chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, I rise today to recognize Azerbaijan on the occasion of its 103rd Republic Day.

Azerbaijan has a proud history as an independent country, beginning in 1918. With its independence, Azerbaijan became the very first secular parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world. Azerbaijan was also among the first states to grant women the right to vote. Azerbaijan's commitment to these values shows the world that they are truly universal, and that self-government and the respect for individual rights is not inimical to Islamic traditions. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan's independence was soon snuffed out by the totalitarian USSR, which sought to spread values much different to those espoused by the fledgling Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan regained its independence. 2021 is particularly notable in this regard as it marks the thirtieth anniversary of this event.

Today, Azerbaijan remains a close partner to the United States and our allies. Throughout the United States' and NATO's long deployment to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan has been integral in ensuring stable lines of communication to the country and has partnered with us in the wider war on terror. Additionally, I find it significant and praiseworthy that as a Muslim country, Azerbaijan maintains strong relations with the Jewish community and with our ally Israel, and has done so for some time. Finally, Azerbaijan is a key energy provider for Europe, helping our allies there diversify their energy supply away from Vladimir Putin's Russia. And Azerbaijan's importance as an energy provider will only grow as a result of the opening of the Southern Gas Corridor last December.

Keeping in mind our relationship with Azerbaijan and its commitment to this partnership, I would encourage my colleagues to join me today in honoring Azerbaijan on its Republic Day.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in support of H.R. 241, the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2021, bipartisan legislation that I introduced along with my Democratic colleague, Mr. Sherman of California, earlier this year.

Developing countries are home to some of the world's most endangered and biologically diverse tropical forests and coral reefs. These critical ecosystems support the livelihoods of local populations, not to mention an abundance of animal species. Coral reefs are critical to the world's fish stocks and are magnets for tourism and the accompanying economic growth. It is in the interest of the whole world to protect and responsibly manage both tropical rainforests and coral reefs.

Unfortunately, however, whether it is deforestation, pollution, overfishing, or some other cause, these vital natural resources are threatened across the globe.

Today's legislation seeks to safeguard tropical forests and coral reefs by revitalizing the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1998. Since the introduction of this legislation 23 years ago, this effort has been led by Ohio's great Senator, Rob Portman, who was in the House at that time and who is leading the effort in the Senate one more time before he leaves office. Congressman Sherman and I were cosponsors of that effort back in 1998, and we are proud of its results over the years.

This program has already protected, as my colleague from Texas mentioned, 67 million acres of tropical forests across the globe. In terms of carbon emission, that is the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road.

This program does development right. It forgives debt, which some developing nations owe the United States, in exchange for investment in local conservation. Instead of providing a handout with questionable results, the debt forgiveness comes with requirements that ensure that the money grows local economies and benefits those who rely on healthy ecosystems the most.

Also, by assisting developing countries to properly manage and sustainably develop their own resources, it follows the old adage of ``teaching a man to fish'' so that the American taxpayer doesn't have to keep providing the fish.

Our constituents back home are rightfully skeptical oftentimes about foreign aid because we have a lot of in effective programs that spend their money year after year without moving countries towards self- reliance. We owe it to the American taxpayers to ensure that aid programs are targeted, effective, and come to an end. H.R. 241 is all three.

Further, due to the peculiar structure of the type of debt this program forgives, developing countries would not have been paying back the portion that we are forgiving anytime soon anyway. A lot of it has already been outstanding for 10, 20, or even 30 years. Since the U.S. is unlikely to recoup the debt in a reasonable timeframe anyway, we might as well get something in return that benefits those countries, benefits us, and really benefits the entire world and those ecosystems and those forests and the animals that reside there and the coral reefs and the fish and other life that is there. So, really, it benefits so many.

Finally, our legislation is one more tool to counter China. Whereas China's One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes produces corrupt, elite-centered, get-rich-quick debt traps, our program is exactly the opposite. It brings transparency to natural resource management by engaging civil society, focuses on the people who depend on these ecosystems for food and economic activity instead of on elites, fosters sustainable development and is debt forgiveness instead of a debt trap. The One Belt One Road initiative oftentimes gets these countries in a huge debt trap that they never get out of, and China benefits instead of the countries that one thinks might benefit from One Belt One Road.

With this program, the State Department can showcase the U.S. development model and bring real gains in the developing world. It is in the interest of the whole world to protect tropical forests and coral reefs. This program does so in a targeted, proven, sustainable way, and pays for it by forgiving debt we would never have seen repaid anyway.

In my mind, this is a win for the taxpayer, a win for the developing countries, a win for America, and a win for the whole world. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I, again, thank Brad Sherman, Democratic congressman from California, for his cosponsorship and his leadership on this.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I will close by saying this is really a good bill. I thank Senator Rob Portman also for his leadership on this here in the House, when he was here, and then over in the Senate. We took this up after he left the House and have been working on it for years.

I thank Mr. Sherman and a lot of Republicans and Democrats for working on this together. This is bipartisan legislation that really does benefit the whole world. I wish we did more stuff like this around here.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1482.

I thank my colleague from Minnesota, Representative Angie Craig, for working with me on this bipartisan bill.

I also thank the other cosponsors, Representatives Sharice Davids and Young Kim, for their work; as well as the full chair of the committee, Ms. Velazquez, who I worked with many years either with myself as chair and she as ranking, or her as chair and myself as ranking.

I thank Mr. Luetkemeyer for the great job he is doing. At this point he is the ranking member of the committee. Hopefully he will be chair next time, depending on what the American people think a year and a half down the road.

So what does this legislation do?

A number of things. It streamlines the 504 loan closing process, clarifies the loan closing and oversight process, and enhances the program for small manufacturers. And small manufacturers are absolutely critical in the economy nowadays. And we were actually making great strides in bringing back more and more jobs there until COVID hit. So that is why programs like this are so important to give them the assistance that they need to get those jobs growing once again in that sector of the economy.

The 504 program has been one of the more successful of the SBA--the Small Business Administration--loan programs over the years, and it is really crucial as we recover from COVID-caused hardships of the past year.

The SBA CDC/504 loan program provides the Nation's smallest businesses with long-term and fixed-rate financing. Importantly, it requires that certain economic development criteria are in place to qualify for the program. And job creation and job retention are critical goals of the program.

This bill passed the House last December in the previous Congress, and I am happy to see it on the floor again this Congress. Hopefully we will get this bill signed into law this time and help provide small businesses with the support they need to recover from the pandemic, and hopefully we will be looking at the pandemic in the rearview mirror sooner rather than later.

I thank the Small Business Committee for the great work they are doing on behalf of America's small businesses. It is one of those committees that really does work in a bipartisan manner, Republicans and Democrats working together, and that is absolutely critical if we are going to get anything done.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, as co-chair of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Caucus, I rise today to bid farewell to Ambassador Erzhan Kazykhanov, who will be departing the United States at the end of this month and has faithfully served as Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the United States during the past four years. He will be greatly missed by myself and all who have had the pleasure of working with him. He has consistently shown a great sense of enthusiasm for the job as well as a deep appreciation for the importance of the U.S.- Kazakhstan bilateral relationship.

Ambassador Kazykhanov is a career diplomat who began his career in the Foreign Ministry's Protocol-Political Division. He was Chief of the Division before being assigned his first international posting as first secretary/counselor at Kazakhstan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City, from 1995 to 2000. He then returned home to Kazakhstan to serve as the Director of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation from 2000 to 2003. Following that posting, he returned to New York City as Kazakhstan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as non-resident Ambassador to Cuba from 2003 to 2007.

Kazykhanov was then named Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and served as assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In late 2008, he was posted to Austria to serve as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to international organizations located in Vienna, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He held that position through 2011 before returning to Kazakhstan to eventually become Minister of Foreign Affairs and an Assistant to the President.

Beginning in 2014, he served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and then presented his credentials as Ambassador to the United States in 2017. During his tenure in Washington, D.C. he has focused a great deal of time on expanding economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States. He has travelled throughout the country meeting with multiple American companies to highlight opportunities for well-known U.S. brands and entities to establish operations in Kazakhstan as a gateway for new or expanded access to Central Asian markets.

Ambassador Kazykhanov has also played a crucial role in elevating the bilateral relationship between the United States and

Kazakhstan. This commitment to a continued cooperation across multiple platforms was cemented in the 2018 document, ``United States and Kazakhstan: An Enhanced Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century,'' which outlines the goals and priorities of the bilateral agenda and sets a long-term vision to support future cooperation.

Ambassador Kazykhanov holds a bachelor's degree in Oriental Studies from Saint Petersburg State University and a Ph.D. in History from Al- Farabi Kazakh National University. He has authored many articles focused on Kazakhstan's foreign policy, economic diplomacy, and multilateralism, among other topics. He speaks Russian, English and Arabic, and has received numerous awards and recognitions for his years of service.

Both he and his wife, Danara, who have two children, will be greatly missed by the Washington diplomatic corps and by all who know them in Washington, D.C. Along with my fellow Caucus co-chairs, we wish them both the greatest success and happiness as they return to Nur-Sultan. And as the Ambassador prepares for his new role as a senior advisor to the President, we hope that he will continue to emphasize the importance of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Kazakhstan.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the ranking member for his leadership on this issue and so many issues that are so significant across the globe. Fortunately, our committee usually works in a bipartisan manner, so I want to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, especially the chairman, for his leadership on this as well.

As the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee's Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, I rise today in support of H.R. 134, legislation that Congressman Levin and I introduced condemning the Burmese military's February 1 coup against the civilian government. The military's decision to seize control and detain top political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, was a brazen assault on Burma's fledgling democracy.

Self-government is not some sort of temporary arrangement or a gift from the military. Burma's generals cannot simply back out of democracy when it no longer serves their purposes.

The situation has only gotten worse since the coup began. To date, the military has killed hundreds of people and has detained thousands of innocent people as political prisoners, and the conditions in many instances are horrible.

What the military is doing here is just unconscionable. These murders and detentions are blatant violations of the rights of the Burmese people who, after all, only want to have what so many other countries have across the globe, and that is the ability to determine their own leadership and their own course of action for their own families and their children and grandchildren.

We should honor--the whole world really should honor--the courage of the Burmese people who have been peacefully protesting for quite some time

now. Their bravery and determination are recognized and supported across the globe. America and the world stand with them in their struggle against tyranny.

Unfortunately, the PRC in this case and in so many other cases across the globe, whether it is Cambodia or other areas where they tend, their actions are malevolent. They are undermining democracy; they are undermining freedom; and they are undermining legitimate governments. They are rewarding bad behavior, as they are doing in this case, and that is too bad because the PRC wants to be a major force and wants to be a country that other countries can look up to.

Unfortunately, they are doing all the wrong things too often, and that is what they are doing here as well. Rather than putting pressure on the military in Burma, they are essentially looking the other way or supporting them in what they are doing.

The bravery and determination of the people must be recognized across the globe.