[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5825-S5827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Hong Kong

  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, as we speak, the brave people of Hong 
Kong are demonstrating to protect their freedoms from the Chinese 
Communist Party in Beijing. Chinese state TV has portrayed these 
millions of demonstrators as violent anarchists and separatists, but 
these Hongkongers are merely insisting that China live up to the 
promises it made to Hong Kong and the United Kingdom--promises China 
made as binding conditions of the transfer of sovereignty from London 
to Beijing.
  The Chinese Government promised that Hong Kong would enjoy a high 
degree of autonomy, including many of the freedoms that Beijing denies 
to its more than 1 billion subjects on the mainland, but, as the world 
has learned through bitter experience, the Chinese Communist Party's 
promises aren't worth the paper they are written on. Slowly but surely, 
Beijing has chipped away at the independence it promised Hong Kong--
disappearing citizens guilty of wrongthink, undermining Hong Kong's 
longstanding political and judicial systems, and issuing menacing 
threats of military intervention to crush the demonstrations.
  Most Americans are rightly outraged by China's brutal crackdown in 
Hong Kong. Daryl Morey is one of them. He is the general manager of the 
Houston Rockets. Just a few days ago, he tweeted a simple and justified 
phrase: ``Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.''
  Morey probably knew his words would offend the Chinese Communist 
Party, but he was also violating a different party line--that of his 
own league, the NBA. For daring to speak up about Hong Kong, Morey was 
disavowed by his team, his fellow executives, and some of the most 
famous

[[Page S5826]]

athletes in the NBA. That is because he was threatening not only the 
powers that be in China but the cash cow that China represents for 
American business, including professional basketball. China's 
government may be red, but its money is green, and plenty of people are 
willing to cash its checks, no matter the cost.
  The league's biggest star, LeBron James, said that Morey's support 
for Hong Kong was ``misinformed'' and ``not educated.'' He reportedly 
called for Morey to be punished. Perhaps it is no coincidence that 
LeBron James stands to make billions of dollars from the Chinese 
market--not only from a higher NBA salary cap, shoe sales, and Nike 
ads, but also from his own movie company. Often known as King James, 
perhaps ``Chairman LeBron'' would be a better honorific today.
  Joe Tsai, owner of the Brooklyn Nets, called the protest in Hong Kong 
a separatist movement that was trying to carve up Chinese territories 
like colonial powers or Imperial Japan. Perhaps it is no coincidence 
that Mr. Tsai is an executive at Alibaba, a Chinese company that 
developed a Communist propaganda app that hijacked cell phones of 
anyone who downloaded it.
  At a Wizards game last week, security confiscated a protest sign that 
said simply ``Google Uighurs,'' referring to the native people of 
western China whose culture and religion are being exterminated by the 
Chinese Communist Party. That sign was not confiscated in China by the 
secret police but right here in America's national capital.
  Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, drew a moral 
equivalence between Communist China and the United States. ``None of us 
are perfect,'' he said, ``and we all have different issues we need to 
get to.''
  Nobody is perfect. That is what he says of an authoritarian regime 
that starved, shot, or beat to death 50 million of its own people on a 
forced march to modernity and a regime that runs a network of 
concentration camps in its western provinces and harvests the organs of 
political prisoners for its own pampered elite. Nobody is perfect, 
indeed.
  This is craven and greedy behavior, and it stands in stark contrast 
to how America has historically used sports to promote our interests 
and our aspirations, from the triumph of Black Olympians in Hitler's 
Germany to the Miracle on Ice against the Soviet Union. Even our 
diplomatic opening to China happened in part through sports with ping-
pong diplomacy.
  Today, the tables have turned. China has used sports to export its 
authoritarian model to our soil. So far, it has found too many willing 
enforcers in the NBA. But it doesn't have to be this way. Commissioner 
Adam Silver, after a slow start, defended Daryl Morey's right to speak 
his mind about Hong Kong. He said: Free expression is ``what you guys 
stand for.''
  Too many American companies kowtow to China not because they love its 
government but because of the tremendous pressure that government can 
exert on their operations. But the NBA is in a unique position. Beijing 
can ban an airline, or it can ban a hotel that lists Taiwan as a 
country in its online drop-down menu, and the Chinese people can use a 
different airline, or they can use a different hotel, but there is only 
one NBA. Beijing can't create another one.
  And here is the rub: There are more than 500 million basketball fans 
in China. More people in China follow the NBA than there are people in 
the United States. No doubt Beijing has some leverage over the NBA, as 
it does over all businesses, but the NBA has a lot of leverage over 
Beijing. Is Beijing really going to ban the entire league, as they have 
done with the Houston Rockets, at the risk of alienating more than 500 
million people who follow the league and the resultant public backlash 
that could create? So instead of acting as a bullhorn for Communist 
propaganda in America, the NBA could be a beacon of freedom in China. 
They could dare China to shut them out.
  Let me urge all of these NBA executives and players who say they care 
about social justice, don't just speak out when the stakes are low for 
you personally or when the cause is popular among your friends; speak 
out now when the stakes are deadly high for millions of Hongkongers and 
more than a billion Chinese, including so many of your fans.
  LeBron James tweeted not long ago: ``Injustice anywhere is a threat 
to justice everywhere.'' Live out that principle consistently. There 
are a million Uighurs in concentration camps yearning to hear a 
champion who speaks out on their behalf, particularly since the NBA 
runs an elite training academy in proximity to those camps.
  Steve Kerr never held back on expressing his opinion about our 
President. That is fine. That is his right as an American. But how 
about some outrage for the authoritarian regime in Beijing?
  Joe Tsai was born in Taiwan. His fellow Taiwanese live in constant 
fear of meddling, attack, and subjugation by the Chinese Communist 
party. Are they separatists for wanting to maintain their way of life? 
Speak out proudly on behalf of your homeland about the true nature of 
the government in Beijing.
  I realize it is a hard thing to ask any person. No doubt this is a 
harder path than the path many in the NBA are traveling at present. It 
would require sacrifice, and it would certainly invite the wrath of the 
Chinese Communist Party. But if the league used its unique leverage for 
freedom, millions of ordinary Chinese would surely notice, despite an 
army of Chinese Communist censors arrayed against them.
  The NBA didn't pick this fight. It probably prefers to avoid this 
fight. The Chinese Communist Party wants this fight. So the choice 
isn't to fight or not; it is to win or lose. And perhaps alone among 
American businesses, the NBA has a shot to win against Beijing. And in 
any fight against Communists, there can only be one strategy and one 
policy: victory.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.


                              S.J. Res. 53

  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I rise in support of the Congressional 
Review Act resolution of disapproval of the Trump administration's so-
called affordable clean energy rule, which really should be called 
President Trump's dirty power plan or unclean energy rule.
  To be clear, I believe that the Environmental Protection Agency has 
an urgent moral responsibility and economic imperative to reduce the 
global warming pollution from powerplants, which are by far the largest 
stationary source of carbon pollution on our planet. I also believe 
that those of us in Congress must act now to protect the American 
people from the dangers posed by poor environmental quality and the 
worsening impact of climate change. That is why we are holding this 
vote tomorrow--to send a clear message to this administration and to 
take a strong stand for the American people.
  Truth be told, I am not typically a staunch supporter of the 
Congressional Review Act. It is a blunt procedural tool, and I prefer 
to embrace a better way to express our disapproval of the 
administration's failure to address one of our Nation's major sources 
of carbon pollution.
  For Senate Democrats, this vote is about holding supporters of this 
shortsighted, irresponsible policy accountable for surrendering 
America's global leadership and for jeopardizing the health of our 
planet and the promise of our children's future.
  Nearly 4 years ago, the Clean Power Plan set the first Federal 
targets to reduce carbon emissions from our Nation's powerplants. The 
Clean Power Plan set meaningful but achievable carbon limits for fossil 
fuel powerplants and gave flexibility and time for States to meet those 
standards. It was not a one-size-fits-all deal. It provided quite a bit 
of time and flexibility for States to try to figure out how they would 
go about meeting those standards in their own way. This 
administration's alternative to the Clean Power Plan--President Trump's 
unclean power plan--allows States to decide whether to regulate harmful 
emissions. At the same time, this rule will, at best, have essentially 
no impact on powerplant carbon emissions--no impact.

[[Page S5827]]

  Let me say that again. At best, this rule will have essentially no 
impact on powerplant carbon emissions. At worst, it will increase 
emissions by extending these plants' lifespans and allow them to burn 
more coal each year.
  Today our Nation's utilities are already on track to meet and surpass 
the emission reduction goals set by the Clean Power Plan way ahead of 
schedule. All the while, the vast majority of Americans are now 
enjoying lower utility bills, not higher utility bills, and more than 3 
million Americans went to work today in the clean energy sector, which 
includes jobs in renewable energy generation and energy efficiency. 
Yes, you heard that right. There are more than 3 million jobs in the 
clean energy sector today.
  The President's dirty power plan does not build on this progress. It 
does not promote affordable or clean energy. What it actually does is 
attempt to scam or fool the American people into believing that the EPA 
is doing something to stem the tide of climate change while taking us 
backward--backward, not forward.
  By repealing and replacing the Clean Power Plan, the Trump 
administration is ensuring that our country forgoes a vast number of 
economic opportunities of the clean energy future. Instead of building 
on the Obama-Biden administration's forward-looking environmental 
standards, the Trump administration, with its dirty power plan, is 
refusing to see or accept that the global economy's transition to clean 
energy sources is already underway. Instead of mustering the political 
courage to lead on the issue of climate change, yet again, the Trump 
administration is walking away from the bold action we need to address 
this climate crisis.
  This failure of leadership will make it all the more likely that the 
worsening storms and flooding, record-setting rainfall, and volatile 
temperatures we are already seeing all over the world will continue to 
be our reality.
  So where do our Republican colleagues stand? Tomorrow we will find 
out.
  Sadly, for too many of them, President Trump's dirty power plan is a 
sufficient plan to address carbon pollution. In truth, it is not. It is 
a failure of vision and a retreat from global leadership, and it is 
time for Congress--Democrats, Republicans, and maybe an Independent or 
two--to hold this administration accountable.
  That is why Senate Democrats are calling for a vote on this issue. 
Our government needs to provide the right market signals today if we 
are going to create a clean energy tomorrow, and we need to take a 
stand for a stronger economy. We need to lead the world to act on 
climate change, and we need to take a stand for clean air and 
environmental quality.
  We can do that tomorrow by standing together against President 
Trump's dirty power plan, and I hope a number of colleagues will join 
us by doing just that.
  It is a false statement to say we can't have cleaner air, less threat 
to our planet, and create jobs. We can do both, and we need to.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my 
remarks prior to the vote for Ambassador Barrett.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hyde-Smith). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.