[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 26 (Friday, February 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H654-H656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE ADMINISTRATION'S COMMITMENT TO INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: ALL 
                           TALK AND NO ACTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, recently, the Clinton administration submitted 
its budget proposals for the year 2000 to Congress. The President's 
budget included many important requests, but one thing it did not 
include was funding for the Commission on International Religious 
Freedom created by the International Religious Freedom Act passed 
overwhelmingly by the Congress last year. Mr. Speaker, I am concerned 
that the administration may be all talk and no action when it comes to 
promoting international religious freedom.
  A brief lesson is in order. In the closing days of the 105th 
Congress, the Senate passed the International Religious Freedom Act by 
a unanimous vote of 98 to nothing. Several days later, the House 
endorsed the measure by a voice vote. It had already endorsed an 
earlier version of the bill several months before by a vote of 375-to-
41. Republicans and Democrats alike endorsed the International 
Religious Freedom Act. So did a broad coalition of religious and civic 
groups representing millions of Americans of all faiths concerned with 
regard to human rights.
  One important part of the act was the International Religious Freedom 
Commission, a 10-member, independent commission established to monitor 
persecution around the world and make policy recommendations to the 
President. The Speaker of the House, the majority leader of the U.S. 
Senate, and the President were each given 3 appointments to the 
Commission. To ensure that it remains independent, Congress authorized 
$3 million for the Commission in fiscal year 1999 and the year 2000.
  The bill was passed, thanks to the tireless efforts over a 2-year 
period by a broad coalition of religious and civic groups dedicated to 
this issue. The groups in support of the bill included, among many, the 
U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, the Anti-Defamation League, the 
Christian Coalition, the National Association of Evangelicals, the 
International Campaign for Tibet, the Family Research Council, the 
Religious Action Center for a Reformed Judaism, the Union of Orthodox 
Hebrew Congregations, B'nai B'rith, the Episcopal Church, the Southern 
Baptist Convention, Justice Fellowship, the Lutheran Church, Missouri 
Synod, and many, many others in support of this bill.
  The coalition was diverse, but it was united in its commitment to 
abolishing the rampant and brutal religious persecution taking place in 
many countries around the world.
  Just 2 weeks ago in China, the Public Security Bureau officials 
arrested 2 Roman Catholic priests from Hebei province. These are just 
the 2 latest priests to be arrested. Dozens, if not hundreds, more 
bishops and priests and lay people are already in prison for practicing 
their faith.

                              {time}  1115

  We know in the Chinese prisons torture is common. Last month the 
Vatican reported that authorities tortured one Catholic priest by 
subjecting him to sexual abuse by prostitutes. They tried videotaping 
the seduction to further humiliate and crush his spirits. That happened 
in China, and the Clinton administration knows about it. They quite 
frankly have not said very much about it. But we know persecution 
continues.
  The Chinese government continues to arrest, harass, and torture 
leaders of China's Protestant church. Most of the key leaders are on 
the run for fear of their lives, and are moving from place to place to 
avoid being thrown into prison.
  In Tibet, where I visited last year, the Chinese government has 
continued its brutal assault on Tibetan Buddhists. A 700-year-old 
monastery and an 800-year-old nunnery were closed down just 2 weeks 
ago. I think the administration has been silent on that issue, though. 
Hundreds have been destroyed since 1959, and those open are controlled 
by Communist party officials.
  When we would go into the monasteries, we would hear from the monks 
that a Chinese cadre of six or seven Chinese police or military were 
running the Monasteries. Imagine, in our country, if in every one of 
our churches and synagogues and temples we had government officials 
running them. We would know that that would be wrong.
  Hundreds of monks and nuns are in jail. In 1998 alone 59 monks last 
year, 59 monks and nuns were arrested, and 13 died in prison from 
torture. This administration and this State Department have been 
silent. The Chinese have launched an official campaign to encourage 
atheism in Tibet, where loyalty to the Dalai Lama remains strong 
despite China's brutal attempts to force the Tibetan people to denounce 
their spiritual leader.
  In Sudan, 2 million people have died, the majority of them Christians 
and animists from southern Sudan. The government of Sudan is seeking to 
annihilate the population of southern Sudan by engaging in brutal war 
tactics that include high altitude bombing of civilian targets. I have 
been in the villages where the bombs have dropped, and saw shrapnel in 
a woman's head. They just indiscriminately bombed these villages, where 
there are no military reasons to bomb them whatsoever; high altitude 
bombing of civilian targets, and the enslavement of Christian women and 
children.
  We know today, and if we watched CBS news last week we saw Dan 
Rather's two-part reports that in Sudan today women and children are 
being sold into chattel slavery. Yes, there is slavery in Sudan today, 
women and children, yet this administration does absolutely nothing 
about it. They are absolutely silent.
  The enslaved are forced to work as concubines and domestic servants 
and farm hands. Some, the boys, are sent to the front lines to fight 
for a government they do not support. Millions are starving in Sudan 
while the government uses food as a weapon, and denies aid flights to 
the neediest regions, regions inhabited mostly by Christians or Muslims 
who do not agree with the government. Millions are dying in the country 
of Sudan. This administration is silent.
  In Egypt, the Coptic Christian Church continues to have a very, very 
difficult time. In Pakistan, the government is actively pushing for 
passage of a law that would discriminate against and potentially lead 
to violence against the Pakistan non-Muslim population. Ahmadi Muslims 
are being persecuted.
  In Iran, the Baha'i faith is being persecuted. In India, some 48 
incidents of violence against Christians have been reported since 
Christmas of 1998, and dozens of churches have been burned or 
destroyed. Nuns have been raped and Christians have been killed in a 
wave of violence.
  Just after Christmas an Australian Christian missionary and his two 
sons were burned alive in their car by mobs. This missionary had been 
there for 30 years to minister to those who were impacted by leprosy.

[[Page H655]]

  In Indonesia dozens of Christian churches and Moslem mosques have 
been attacked and burned. People of faith have been attacked and 
murdered. This goes on and on.
  Very briefly, I have this picture here which was taken by a staff 
member for former congressman, now Senator, Sam Brownback of Kansas. He 
and his staff person went to Sudan over the Christmas break and took 
pictures of this young boy who was in slavery, who was marked with a 
slave brand; slavery, slavery, in 1999, and we hear nothing at all from 
this administration.
  This is a picture taken in Sudan of the famine, and the number of 
people. You can see the corpse, and the people that have died because 
they have no food. This was just taken not very, very long ago.
  This is a picture taken when I went to Tibet by my staffer, Charlie 
White, of a young boy outside of a Buddhist temple that had been 
destroyed. Over 4,000 to 5,000 monasteries in Tibet have been 
destroyed, and yet the silence of this administration is deafening.
  In Tibet, we went by the guard tower of the Drosi prison, where many 
of the Buddhist monks and nuns are put into the prison. The only basic 
growth industry in Lhasa is the prisons, the number of people that are 
being put in, and the Buddhists there ask, why is the United States not 
speaking out?
  In China, here is a picture of young men who are being executed so 
they can give their organs to people that want to purchase their lungs 
and kidneys for transplantation. Yes, the Chinese government is making 
money, up to $35,000 for an organ. Yet, this administration says 
nothing.
  Here is a picture we took when we were in Lhasa. It would be very 
hard to pick it out, but atop all the buildings there are TV cameras 
whereby the public security police are monitoring the movement of all 
the Buddhist monks and nuns and the people.
  We see the conditions that have taken place to set the mood as to 
what I am going to comment on, to see that this persecution of people 
of faith, Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, Baha'i, and many other 
denominations of faith, is taking place around the world.
  Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act to ensure 
that U.S. foreign policy would give priority to combatting religious 
persecution. I think the record must show that the State Department 
fought it every step of the way through the legislative process. They 
did everything they could to stop this bill from passing.
  The State Department officials constantly misrepresented the bill's 
provisions. They sought to kill it through gutting amendments in 
committee and on the floor. They worked hand in glove with some in the 
business community to exaggerate the bill's impact on trade, and 
threatened that its passage would actually harm religious communities 
abroad.
  If they could have only talked to Scharansky and those in the Soviet 
Union, who said that when the United States spoke out on their behalf, 
their life got better. But yet the State Department forgot that and 
worked against this legislation.
  Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an audience at Catholic 
University that the bill would ``* * * create a hierarchy of human 
rights, and would create an unneeded bureaucracy.'' She said, of 
efforts to promote religious freedom abroad, ``It is in our interests 
and it is essential to our identity for Americans to promote religious 
freedom rights, but if we are to be effective in the values we cherish, 
we must also take into account the perspective and values of others.''

  To which values was she referring? The values of the Sudanese 
government, that are slaughtering Christians in southern Sudan, or the 
values of the Chinese government, that is imprisoning Catholic bishops 
and Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns?
  President Clinton told an audience, which included a New York Times 
reporter, that passing the religious persecution bill would force him 
``* * * to fudge the facts regarding persecution.'' But only after the 
Administration's best efforts to defeat the bill were thwarted, the 
President then did the right thing and signed the bill. He put himself 
on the right side of history. He has had nothing but good things to say 
about the bill ever since.
  That is what makes this budget decision, a deletion, meaning they 
have asked no money for the commission, very, very troublesome. I am 
beginning to think that it is just words and no action.
  I hope the President is not manipulating this issue for his own gain, 
while the lives of millions of innocent men and women and children in 
Sudan and China and Egypt and Indonesia and Vietnam and India and 
Pakistan and other places are at stake. President Clinton talks as if 
he supports the bill, but when the rubber meets the road, there is no 
financial support. In the President's budget there is no financial 
support for the commission.
  On November 15 of last year, the President sent a statement to the 
congregation at the National Presbyterian Church here in Washington, 
which was holding a special prayer service to commemorate the 
International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church. About 100,000 
different denominations of all faiths had some sort of ceremony this 
year in remembrance of all people of faith who are being persecuted for 
their faith.
  At that service, the President commended the efforts of those who 
worked to pass the bill, and pledged to do what he could to ensure it 
was fully implemented. I was in the congregation, in the back, 
listening. I felt very good to hear the representative of the President 
read this letter to say that now they know that they may have been 
wrong at the outset, but now they are excited about this bill.
  But in the days since, is he doing all he can to help? The answer is 
no. The bill was signed on October 27, 1998. November, December, 
January, and half of February have gone by, but still the President has 
not named his appointments to the Commission on International Religious 
Freedom.
  The Republicans in Congress were the first to make theirs, despite a 
challenge in the Speaker of the House. Four individuals were appointed 
at the end of December. Senator Daschle has found time to name a 
commissioner. Where is the administration? How many people have died or 
been tortured for their faith while the administration sits on its 
hands?
  Now it turns out the administration did not even request funding for 
the Commission on International Religious Freedom in the fiscal year 
2000. I checked with the Office of Management and Budget. They did not 
know where it was in the Federal budget. I checked with the State 
Department. They cannot find it, either. The Commission on 
International Religious Freedom did not show up once in the 1,300 pages 
of budget sent to the Congress.
  In his State of the Union Address, it took the President 77 minutes 
to list a whole range of special initiatives, many of them good, for 
which he would be requesting funding this year. There was no mention of 
the commission, despite the fact that it was supported by a large 
domestic constituency concerned about human rights and the plight of 
those suffering for their faith.
  What was requested? Well, $1.3 million for the Marine Mammal 
Commission is one example that is in that budget. I personally support 
the $1.3 million for the Marine Mammal commission. But are not men and 
women and children who are being persecuted and killed because of their 
faith just as important as marine mammals?
  I was in a village in southern Sudan where a woman named Rebecca came 
up to me, and was telling me of the hardship and the death of all the 
people of her family who had died. She said something to me that almost 
brings this right back. She said, if you in the United States and in 
the West care about the whales, why don't you care about the people? We 
have that, where she said that.
  Now we find the Ocean Mammal Commission, which is good. I commend the 
President, I commend NOAA, I commend the Department of State if they 
put it in, and I commend the Department of Commerce. But why could they 
not have put some money in for this commission, to help those who are 
being persecuted in China and killed because of their faith, and in 
Sudan, and in many of the other countries?
  Thankfully, the International Religious Freedom Act has strong 
bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. This is not a 
Republican or Democratic issue. There are people of both sides, 
literally, when we look at it, equally in support of this effort. We

[[Page H656]]

had as much support from the Democratic side as from the Republican 
side.
  Now the Congress has a chance to do the right thing and provide the 
funding for the Commission. I will be working with Senator Nickles and 
others who sponsored the legislation in the Senate and my congressional 
colleagues on this side of the Capitol to be sure the money is 
appropriated for fiscal year 2000 and in the FY 1999 supplemental 
appropriations bill.
  But the fact that the President did not see the commission as a 
priority and did not ask Congress to fund it is telling, because they 
did not ask for the money. But we wonder, if we give them the money, 
will they even put their efforts behind it and support it? It says that 
he is all talk and no action; big hat, no cattle; talk about it, get 
the credit, but do not follow through.
  During that period of time, in November and December and January and 
this month, monasteries have been destroyed, monks and nuns arrested in 
Tibet, the Catholic Church continues to be persecuted in China, and 
conditions do not improve for the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Not only 
is this administration silent, but they do not put the money into the 
commission that they now claim.
  I hope I am wrong. I hope it was an oversight. I hope the President 
and the Secretary of State will make implementing the provisions in the 
bill a priority. I hope they will work in good faith. There is still an 
opportunity to work in good faith with the commission, and name good 
people to the panel. That will show the American people that their 
commitment is genuine.
  That will show the world thugs that the United States is watching, 
and will take action against countries that refuse to stop persecuting 
men and women of faith. The nameless, voiceless victims of China, in 
Vietnam, in Sudan, in Indonesia, in India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and 
many other places where faith is under attack are waiting, are waiting 
for a message to show that we care.
  A woman I talked to in Tibet said she listened to Radio-Free Asia 
every day to hear, is the United States interested? They will wait to 
see if we act on this effort.
  Pushing for funding of the Commission on International Religious 
Freedom and appointing good people will send that message that this 
administration cares.
  Finally, I want to say a word about Dr. Bob Seiple, the person 
appointed to be the assistant to the Secretary of State for 
International Religious Freedom. I am pleased that President Clinton 
appointed him to the job. He is a good man, with a heart for those who 
are suffering from poverty and injustice.
  As president of World Vision for over a decade, he gave his life to 
helping those in need and now he is seeking to make a difference for 
those suffering for their faith.
  When he was offered the job, he called me on the telephone and asked 
me what I thought, should he take it. I said, take it. I encouraged him 
to go for it because I felt that he could make a difference. I felt he 
would have the opportunity to do things and to get some things moving, 
but now we see there is no funding for the commission to give them the 
ability to make that.
  The President cannot just appoint Bob Seiple and take credit for 
having done something for the issue. That would be like Dietrich 
Bonhoeffer talking about cheap grace. It would be like appointing 
somebody and putting out a press release and coming to a gathering and 
speaking to religious leaders to tell them what you have done but there 
is no follow-through, there is no money, there is no effort because you 
personally appear to say one thing and do just the other.
  The President cannot just appear before the gatherings of religious 
leaders and mention Bob Seiple's name in order to get the kudos with 
the audience and then walk away and do nothing. That would be, I 
believe, immoral, and I believe it would be an affront to those who are 
suffering and dying for their faith around the world. It would be a 
betrayal of American values and an example of political opportunism at 
its best.
  I hope the President will instruct the Secretary of State to empower 
Bob Seiple to make a real difference for the State Department. I hope 
his office will receive the adequate resources. I hope the President 
will meet with Dr. Seiple and listen to what he has to say. I hope he 
will instruct our ambassadors around the world to do the same, and I 
hope he will do what he can to help this commission carry out its 
important duties, not to allow the commission of Mr. Seiple to be 
marginalized within the administration.
  That is what will win him real kudos. That is what will help save 
lives, and that is what will help make the world a safer place for 
people of faith.
  If the administration does not come to the Hill and actively seek 
funding for this commission, the honorable thing to do would be for Bob 
Seiple to resign, to step down and show that by standing up and 
speaking out, he was speaking out for those who do not have the voice. 
He would be the voice for the voiceless. So if there is no funding for 
this commission and if President Clinton does not support this 
commission, and if Secretary Albright does not support this commission, 
then Bob Seiple should not serve and should do the honorable thing and 
should resign, so he is not being used by this administration.

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