[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 106 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 106

Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil's Government institutions 
 and supporting the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in 
                 Brazil's recent Presidential election.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2023

 Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Wild, 
Ms. Titus, Mr. Allred, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Connolly, 
   Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. 
Cohen, and Mr. Garcia of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil's Government institutions 
 and supporting the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in 
                 Brazil's recent Presidential election.

Whereas, on October 30, 2022, Brazil's former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da 
        Silva, won the majority of votes cast in a runoff election to become 
        Brazil's next President over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro;
Whereas Bolsonaro's Liberal Party did well in the 2022 elections, winning 99 
        seats in the 513-member lower house, 13 of the 81 Senate seats, and 2 
        Governors' races, in addition to participating in coalitions that 
        elected at least 6 others;
Whereas Bolsonaro made his first public remarks 2 days later, thanking his 
        supporters and encouraging their protests, as long as they remained 
        peaceful, but failing to officially concede to Lula;
Whereas Bolsonaro's Liberal Party asked the electoral court to reject ballots 
        from voting machines deployed before 2020, claiming these models were 
        compromised, notwithstanding that these voting machines represent 61 
        percent of all voting machines and rejecting these ballots would likely 
        have flipped the election result;
Whereas Brazil's electoral court rejected the challenge against the Presidential 
        election result, stating that the complaint was made ``in bad faith'' 
        and fined Bolsonaro's party 22.9m reais or $4,300,000;
Whereas the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court that 
        oversees elections have faced an unprecedented campaign of distrust and 
        public threats to judges largely due to years of Bolsonaro making false 
        claims about the election system including before, during, and after the 
        2022 electoral process;
Whereas, according to independent experts, Brazil's election officials, and 
        foreign governments, including the United States, there has been no 
        evidence of fraud in the electronic voting machines since Brazil began 
        using them in 1996, despite Bolsonaro's claims otherwise;
Whereas, in the days leading up to Brazil's Presidential elections, Facebook, 
        Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube directed many online users seeking basic 
        election-related information toward groups pushing claims that question 
        the integrity of the vote or openly agitating for a military coup;
Whereas there are multiple layers of security to prevent fraud errors, including 
        the testing of hundreds of machines on election day to ensure votes are 
        recorded correctly, having each polling station publicly post vote 
        counts to ensure they match up with the national tally, having outside 
        experts inspect some of the source code of the machines' software, and 
        ensuring machines are not connected to the internet, significantly 
        reducing the chances of a hack;
Whereas, despite this lack of evidence of election fraud, supporters of former 
        President Bolsonaro blocked roads across the country, scuffled with 
        police, and continued demonstrating outside of military barracks, urging 
        a military intervention in order to prevent Lula from taking office;
Whereas Bolsonaro arrived in Florida in late December, skipping the January 1, 
        2023, swearing-in of Lula, who became the first elected Brazilian 
        President not to receive the Presidential sash from his predecessor 
        since democracy was restored in 1985;
Whereas, on January 8, 2023, hundreds of supporters of former President 
        Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress of Brazil, the Palacio do 
        Planalto (presidential palace), and the Supreme Court in Brasilia, 
        Brazil, and many claimed they wanted the Brazilian military to restore 
        Bolsonaro to power and oust newly inaugurated President Luiz Inacio Lula 
        da Silva;
Whereas hundreds of protesters began to riot by using heavy metal objects to 
        force their way into the buildings, smashing windows, setting fires, 
        ransacking offices, destroying furniture and computers, scaling the 
        building, and waving flags and banners in support of Bolsonaro;
Whereas Brazilian authorities are reporting that at least 70 individuals were 
        injured, including police officers and members of the media, and more 
        than 650 people have been charged so far in connection to the riots;
Whereas ongoing investigations have indicated that actions by some members of 
        the military and police to encourage, support, and protect those 
        violently defacing democratic institutions highlight possible 
        cooperation between military and police officials and the rioters;
Whereas such treatment stands in stark contrast to reports by United Nations 
        human rights experts demonstrating a sharp increase in violence by 
        police of low-income, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities in Brazil 
        over the last 4 years;
Whereas President Lula, congressional leaders, and the Supreme Court President 
        issued a statement saying that ``defenders of democracy'' in Brazil 
        ``reject the acts of terrorism, vandalism, crime, and the attempted 
        coup'' and ``are united to take institutional action, according to 
        Brazilian law'';
Whereas Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is conducting 
        investigations into the riots and continues to analyze the security 
        failings that allowed Bolsonaro supporters to ransack government 
        buildings; and
Whereas President Joe Biden spoke to President Lula by phone on January 9, 2023, 
        and ``conveyed the unwavering support of the Untied States for Brazil's 
        democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in 
        Brazil's recent President election'' and also ``condemned the violence 
        and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer 
        of power'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the violent and unlawful attack on Brazil's 
        government institutions, including the National Congress of 
        Brazil, the Palacio do Planalto (presidential palace), and the 
        Supreme Court in Brasilia;
            (2) opposes any attempt to overturn the free will of the 
        Brazilian people as expressed in the 2022 election results and 
        undemocratically remove newly inaugurated President Lula;
            (3) stands with the people of Brazil as they recover from 
        this horrific incident and seek justice and accountability for 
        the attack;
            (4) calls for the United States Government to cooperate 
        with requests for assistance received from Brazilian 
        authorities investigating the attack; and
            (5) supports constructive dialogues between the United 
        States and Brazil to promote democracy, respect for rule of 
        law, human rights, civic participation, and racial and ethnic 
        equality in access to justice.
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