[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E99-E100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PERSONAL EXPLANATION ON ROLLCALL VOTE 23

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 16, 2014

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I missed roll call vote 22, on 
consideration of a motion to recommit with instructions for H.R. 3362, 
and rollcall vote 23, on final passage of H.R. 3362, the Exchange 
Information Disclosure Act, because I was chairing the Tom Lantos Human 
Rights Commission hearing on ``Defending Freedoms: Highlighting the 
Plight of Prisoners of Conscience around the World.'' This hearing 
addressed the plight of prisoners of conscience who are currently 
unjustly detained by repressive governments all over the world and 
explored strategies for securing their release.

[[Page E100]]

  Witnesses traveled at their own expense from across the country and 
all over the world, including Israel and Europe, to testify before the 
commission. We heard from Mr. Natan Sharansky, the noted human rights 
activist who spent nine years in the Soviet Gulag and current Chairman 
of the Executive for the Jewish Agency for Israel; Ms. Geng He, wife of 
imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was 
accompanied by Mr. Jared Genser, founder, Freedom Now and pro bono 
counsel for Gao Zhisheng; Mr. Josh Colangelo-Bryan, pro bono attorney 
on behalf of imprisoned Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab; 
and Mrs. Tran Thi Ngoc Minh, mother of imprisoned Vietnamese labor 
activist Do Thi Minh Hanh. Dr. Robert P. George, chairman of the U.S. 
Commission on International Religious Freedom and Mr. Gal Beckerman, 
author, When They Come for Us We'll be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save 
Soviet Jewry also testified.
  I felt it was important to continue this hearing as these witnesses 
were advocating for the lives of their friends and loved ones.
  Had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on roll call 22, the 
motion to recommit, and ``aye'' on roll call 23, final passage of H.R. 
3362, the Exchange Information Disclosure Act, as I fully support 
efforts to require transparency in the operation of American Health 
Benefit Exchanges.

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