[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 217 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ENSURING THAT GOODS MADE WITH FORCED LABOR IN THE XINJIANG UYGHUR 
 AUTONOMOUS REGION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA DO NOT ENTER THE 
                          UNITED STATES MARKET

  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, we have come down to the floor multiple 
times in the last few weeks trying to push the passage of our 
bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
  For those who are not familiar with it at this point, it basically 
says that you can't import products into the United States that are 
made by slave labor in Xinjiang or entities that are associated with 
the government of that region. If you are a company that is 
manufacturing in that area, you need to prove that slaves didn't make 
it; the presumption is on you.
  It is already illegal, by the way, to bring goods made with slave 
labor. It has been that way since the thirties. Yet it still happens, 
and we know it is happening at an alarming, horrific rate, with the 
genocide that we now witness being carried out by the Chinese 
Government in the Xinjiang region.
  This bill, which we hope, here in a few moments, passes today, will 
head to the President and will become law, and it will help 
tremendously in stopping that from happening.
  Many companies have already taken steps to clean up their supply 
chains, and, frankly, they should have no concerns about this law. Yet 
for those that have not done that, they will no longer be able to 
continue to make Americans--every one of us, frankly--unwitting 
accomplices in the atrocities and genocide that are being committed by 
the Chinese Communist Party.
  As if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6256, which was received 
from the House; that the bill be considered read a third time and 
passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid 
upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Reserving the right to object, first, let me thank the 
Senator from Florida for doing such great work, along with Senator 
Merkley and others, on this incredibly important piece of legislation. 
We are going to be able in a few moments to speak together, Republicans 
and Democrats, on our commitment to ending genocide in China.
  I want to thank the Senator for working with me to make sure that, as 
part of his unanimous consent request, we are going to be able to make 
sure we have personnel in place to properly implement this policy. We 
have dozens of State Department and Department of Defense nominees 
pending on this floor--more so than we have ever had at the end of a 
first-term, first-year Presidency--and we will, hopefully before we 
leave--we have to, before we leave, make substantial progress on this 
list in order to adequately protect our country.
  At the very least, as we put forward this important new policy, it 
does make sense to accompany it and its passage with three key 
personnel who will be in charge of implementing it.
  I believe we are going to be able to modify this request in the 
following manner. I would formally ask Senator Rubio to modify this 
request that he has made to include the following request.


                      Unanimous Consent Agreement

  Mr. MURPHY. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, 
if applicable, at 4:30 p.m. today, the Senate proceed to the following 
nominations: Executive Calendar No. 525, R. Nicholas Burns, of 
Massachusetts, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of 
the United States of America to the People's Republic of China; 
Calendar No. 626, Ramin Toloui, of Iowa, to be an Assistant Secretary 
of State (Economic and Business Affairs); and Calendar No. 619, Rashad 
Hussain, of Virginia, to be Ambassador at Large for International 
Religious Freedom; that there be 10 minutes for debate equally divided 
in the usual form on the nominations en bloc; that upon the use or 
yielding back of that time, the Senate vote without intervening action 
or debate on the nominations in the order listed; that if the 
nominations are confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; and that 
the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the modification?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I have no objection to the modification.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request, as 
modified?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 6256) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.

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