[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MFN FOR CHINA, AID TO BOSNIA IN FLOOD RELIEF BILL, AND DISNEY BOYCOTT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to mention three very 
important but unrelated topics. One is the vote yesterday to grant 
most-favored-nation status to China. Last year 141 Members voted 
against MFN status for China. Yesterday 173 voted against this status. 
This is an issue that is not going to go away and the opposition will 
continue to grow if the Chinese do not make major reforms and start 
doing better in relation to human rights. The Chinese should not take 
yesterday's vote as some type of endorsement of their very repressive 
policies. This is particularly true in relation to the horrible 
persecution of millions of Christians going on in China right now.
  Michael Horowitz, a leader in speaking out against this persecution 
and who happens to be Jewish, said in a recent interview with Chuck 
Colson the following. He said, ``I am speaking out on behalf of 
persecuted Christians precisely because I am a Jew in the most deeply 
rooted sense. I see eerie parallels between the way the elites of the 
world are dealing with Christians--who have become the scapegoats of 
choice for the thug regimes around the world--and the way the elites 
dealt with the Jews when Hitler came to power. Another parallel is the 
tongue-tied silence of the Christian community in the face of this 
persecution. A similar silence was evident in the years leading to the 
Holocaust. Silence, anybody's silence, in the face of persecution is 
deadly. So for me,'' Mr. Horowitz said, ``sparking our campaign for 
awareness and action is the most important thing I expect to do. What 
thugs did to Jews, they are doing now to Christians. I put it to you, 
Chuck,'' Mr. Horowitz said, ``Christians are becoming the Jews of the 
21st century.''
  Also, the Chinese must start treating us more fairly in regard to 
trade. We have a trade deficit with China now at 40 to $50 billion, 
depending on whose estimate is used. Economists say conservatively that 
we lose 20,000 jobs per $1 billion. This means we may be losing as many 
as 1 million American jobs this year to China and we are losing even 
more to Japan. We cannot continue these huge trade deficits and 
resulting huge job losses, Mr. Speaker, for much longer without doing 
great harm and irreparable harm to this Nation. Already while our 
unemployment rate is very low, our underemployment rate is terrible. As 
I have said before, we are ending up with the best educated waiters and 
waitresses in the world precisely because we are sending so many good 
jobs to other countries.
  Secondly, and briefly, Mr. Speaker, it was unconscionable to require 
us to vote for $2 billion more for Bosnia on the so-called flood relief 
bill. We sent far more to Bosnia than we did to North Dakota. There is 
no threat to our national security in Bosnia. There is no vital U.S. 
interest there. We cannot settle these centuries-old ethnic conflicts 
even if we pour our entire treasury into Bosnia. We need to put our own 
people first. We do not need our soldiers and sailors doing 
international social work. We need to bring our troops home now. I was 
very disappointed that yesterday we voted down the Hilleary amendment 
to bring our troops home by December 31. The President originally 
promised we would have our troops out after one year at the most and 
that was many months ago.
  Third, Mr. Speaker, and lastly, the Hill newspaper reported today 
that no Members were willing to publicly support the Southern Baptists 
in their boycott of the Disney Company. Well, I know this boycott will 
not be successful against this extremely rich corporation. However, I 
for one, and I am a Presbyterian, not a Baptist, admire and respect the 
Southern Baptists for standing up for their beliefs and for trying to 
do what they and millions of people believe is morally right. We need 
much less sex and violence on television and in our movies and the 
Disney Corporation is not upholding family values as it once did.

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