S. 5370 (Introduced-in-Senate)

To state the policy of the United States with respect to international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.

August 7, 2026

Mr. Budd (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

To state the policy of the United States with respect to international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

This Act may be cited as the “Combatting the Persecution of Religious Groups in the People’s Republic of China Act”.

The People’s Republic of China has been designated as a “country of particular concern for religious freedom” under section 402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii)) since 1999 for engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom (as defined in section 3 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 6402)).

(a) Holding officials of the People’s Republic of China responsible for international religious freedom abuses.—For any official of the Government of the People’s Republic of China that the United States Government determines is responsible for or has directly carried out abuses of international religious freedom, including those involving arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement involving ethnic and religious minority groups, including Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners, in the People’s Republic of China or globally, it is the policy of the United States to also determine whether such official has committed a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights for purposes of imposing sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.).

(b) Department of State programming To promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China.—It is the policy of the United States—

(1) that the relevant bureaus of the Department of State should support efforts to promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China; and

(2) for programs of the Department of State to promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China and monitor transnational repression of ethnic and religious minority groups by the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

SEC. 4. Sense of Congress regarding promotion of international religious freedom in the People's Republic of China.

It is the sense of Congress that the United States should promote international religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China by—

(1) strengthening diplomacy relating to religious freedom on behalf of ethnic and religious minority groups, including through the widespread engagement of international partners to combat abuses of religious freedom committed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China;

(2) strengthening multilateral diplomacy to address the persecution of ethnic and religious minority groups in the People’s Republic of China;

(3) raising the cases of political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief with officials at the highest levels of the Government of the People’s Republic of China;

(4) calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to end its harassment and persecution of members of religious organizations, including underground house church networks, unconditionally release all unjustly detained political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief, and ensure that detainees who have not yet been released are treated humanely with—

(A) access to family, the legal counsel of their choice, independent medical care, and international monitoring mechanisms; and

(5) encouraging the global faith community to speak in solidarity with oppressed religious groups in the People’s Republic of China; and

(B) support for defenders of internationally recognized human rights and at-risk communities, including dissidents and individuals who have faced religious persecution by the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party.

(a) In general.—The Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom shall provide an annual briefing to the appropriate congressional committees on—

(1) sanctions imposed on officials of the Government of the People’s Republic of China responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights described in section 3(a);

(2) efforts to strengthen diplomacy relating to international religious freedom; and

(3) plans or efforts to raise the cases of political prisoners imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of religious belief with officials at the highest levels of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

(b) Appropriate congressional committees defined.—In this section, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means—