[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 74 (Monday, May 5, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1830-H1833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FALUN GONG PROTECTION ACT
Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1540) to provide for the imposition of sanctions with
respect to forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of
China, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1540
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Falun Gong Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to--
(1) avoid any cooperation with the PRC in the organ
transplantation field while the Chinese Communist Party
remains in power;
[[Page H1831]]
(2) take appropriate measures, including using relevant
sanctions authorities, to coerce the Chinese Communist Party
to end any state-sponsored organ harvesting campaign; and
(3) work with allies, partners, and multilateral
institutions to highlight China's persecution of Falun Gong
and coordinate closely with the international community on
targeted sanctions and visa restrictions.
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FORCED ORGAN
HARVESTING WITHIN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA.
(a) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose
the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to
each foreign person included in the most recent list
submitted pursuant to subsection (b).
(b) List of Persons.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a list of foreign
persons who the President determines to have knowingly and
directly engaged in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting
of organs within the People's Republic of China.
(2) Updates of lists.--The President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees an updated list under
paragraph (1)--
(A) as new information becomes available;
(B) not later than one year after the date of the enactment
of this Act; and
(C) annually thereafter until the date of termination under
subsection (h).
(3) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall exercise all
of the powers granted to the President by the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)
(except that the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50
U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent necessary to
block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests
in property of the person if such property and interests in
property are in the United States, come within the United
States, or are or come within the possession or control of a
United States person.
(2) Inadmissibility of certain individuals.--
(A) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--A
foreign person included in the most recent list submitted
pursuant to subsection (b) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to
enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into
the United States or to receive any other benefit under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--A foreign person described in
subparagraph (A) is also subject to the following:
(i) Revocation of any visa or other entry documentation
regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is
or was issued.
(ii) A revocation under clause (i) shall take effect
immediately and automatically cancel any other valid visa or
entry documentation that is in the foreign person's
possession.
(3) Exception.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not
apply to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the
United States is necessary to permit the United States to
comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the
United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and
entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United
Nations and the United States, or other applicable
international obligations of the United States.
(d) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or
causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out
subsection (a) to the same extent that such penalties apply
to a person who commits an unlawful act described in section
206(a) of that Act.
(e) Exception To Comply With National Security.--The
following activities shall be exempt from sanctions under
this section:
(1) Activities subject to the reporting requirements under
title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091
et seq.).
(2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforcement
activities of the United States.
(f) Exception Relating to Provision of Humanitarian
Assistance.--Sanctions under this section may not be imposed
with respect to transactions or the facilitation of
transactions for--
(1) the sale of agricultural commodities, food, or
medicine;
(2) the provision of vital humanitarian assistance;
(3) financial transactions relating to humanitarian
assistance or for humanitarian purposes; or
(4) transporting goods or services that are necessary to
carry out operations relating to humanitarian assistance or
humanitarian purposes.
(g) Waiver Authority.--
(1) Waiver.--The President may, on a case by case basis,
waive the imposition of any sanction under this section if
the President determines such waiver is in the vital national
security interest of the United States.
(2) Reports.--Not later than 120 days after the date on
which the President submits the list under subsection (b),
and every 120 days thereafter until the date of termination
under subsection (h), the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report on the extent
to which the President has used the waiver authority under
paragraph (1) during the period covered by that report.
(h) Sunset.--The authority to impose sanctions under this
section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services
and the Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
on the organ transplant policies and practices of the
People's Republic of China.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under
subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a summary of de jure and de facto policies toward organ
transplantation in the PRC, including with respect to
prisoners of conscience (including Falun Gong) and other
prisoners;
(2)(A) the number of organ transplants that are known to
occur or are estimated to occur on an annual basis in the
PRC;
(B) the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors
in the PRC;
(C) an assessment of the sources of organs for transplant
in the PRC; and
(D) an assessment of the time, in days, that it takes to
procure an organ for transplant within the Chinese medical
system and an assessment of whether such timetable is
possible based on the number of known or estimated organ
donors in the PRC;
(3) a list of all United States grants over the past ten
years that have supported research on organ transplantation
in the PRC or in collaboration between a Chinese and a United
States entity; and
(4) a determination as to whether the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners within the People's Republic of China
constitutes an ``atrocity'' (as such term is defined in
section 6 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities
Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 U.S.C. 2656
note)).
(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall
be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a
classified annex.
SEC. 5. EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF GOODS.
(a) In General.--The authorities and requirements to impose
sanctions authorized under this Act shall not include the
authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the
importation of goods.
(b) Good Defined.--In this section, the term ``good'' means
any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply
or manufactured product, including inspection and test
equipment, and excluding technical data.
SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional
committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Mast) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.
General Leave
Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this issue.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1540, Mr. Perry's
Falun Gong Protection Act.
For decades, the House of Representatives has been raising alarms
about organ harvesting perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. We
spoke about it earlier.
As United Nations human rights experts stated in 2021: ``Forced organ
harvesting in China appears to be targeting specific ethnic,
linguistic, or religious minorities held in detention, often without
being [informed of] the reasons for their arrest or provided arrest
warrants.''
Among those most frequently reported as targets are Falun Gong
practitioners and Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Province. These
detainees, often imprisoned for their beliefs, are subjected to medical
procedures that other prisoners are not: blood draws, organ
examinations, and ultrasound scans. These are not for their health.
[[Page H1832]]
These results are then entered into a database, turning them into a
human inventory for a state-run organ harvesting system.
This is barbaric. These crimes, these abuses by the Chinese Communist
Party, must end. I think we can all agree that they have to come to an
end.
The legislation before us today, the Falun Gong Protection Act, takes
long-overdue action to confront this horror. It directs the U.S.
Government to identify and publicly name individuals and entities
involved in forced organ harvesting in China. It imposes targeted
sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, including visa bans and asset
freezes, against those responsible. It strengthens reporting
requirements for the State Department, ensuring that U.S. foreign
policy fully accounts for the scope of organ trafficking abuses.
Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, May 1, 2025.
Hon. Brian Mast,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Mast: I write regarding H.R. 1540, the Falun
Gong Protection Act. Provisions of this bill fall within the
Judiciary Committee's Rule X jurisdiction, and I appreciate
that you consulted with us on those provisions. The Judiciary
Committee agrees that it shall be discharged from further
consideration of the bill so that it may proceed
expeditiously to the House floor.
The Committee takes this action with the understanding that
forgoing further consideration of this measure does not in
any way alter the Committee's jurisdiction or waive any
future jurisdictional claim over these provisions or their
subject matter. We also reserve the right to seek appointment
of an appropriate number of conferees in the event of a
conference with the Senate involving this measure or similar
legislation.
I ask that you please insert this letter in the
Congressional Record during consideration of H.R. 1540 on the
House floor. I appreciate the cooperative manner in which our
committees have worked on this matter, and I look forward to
working collaboratively in the future on matters of shared
jurisdiction. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, May 1, 2025.
Hon. Jim Jordan,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Jordan: Thank you for consulting with the
Committee on Foreign Affairs and agreeing to be discharged
from further consideration of H.R. 1540, the Falun Gong
Protection Act, so that the measure may proceed expeditiously
to the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would
support your effort to seek appointments of any appropriate
number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate
conference of this legislation.
I will submit the exchange of letters to be published in
the Congressional Record. I appreciate your cooperation
regarding this legislation and look forward to continuing to
work together on matters of shared jurisdiction during this
Congress.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Mast,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1540.
Like H.R. 1503, the Falun Gong Protection Act also imposes sanctions
on individuals who knowingly and directly engage in or facilitate the
involuntary harvesting of organs within the People's Republic of China
while strengthening reporting requirements regarding this heinous
crime.
{time} 1600
These steps are vital to address the forcible harvesting of organs, a
grave violation of human rights and bodily autonomy. The PRC has been
accused of forcibly harvesting organs from victims who range from
prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents,
to ethnic minorities. Shining a spotlight on these crimes and the
people that perpetrate them while advancing accountability is
essential.
The reporting requirements in this bill will help us better
understand the scope of these terrible abuses and allow us to address
them more effectively. This reporting relies on the very offices and
experts at the State Department, the Department of Health and Human
Services, and the National Institutes of Health that are being gutted
currently by the Trump administration, a gift for traffickers and
criminals that only illustrates just how dangerous the administration's
proposed reorganization and so-called streamlining of the government
has been for United States' national security. The sanctions in this
bill may help to hold perpetrators accountable and deter the practice,
as well.
We cannot remain silent in the face of such cruelty. We must stand
with the victims, show them they are not forgotten, and ensure that
perpetrators face justice.
I thank my colleagues for their leadership on this effort and other
efforts to tackle this heinous crime.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting the
measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), the sponsor of this legislation.
Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for allowing this bill
to come to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I am here today to urge support of and for H.R. 1540,
the Falun Gong Protection Act, a bill I have introduced to confront one
of the most egregious, barbaric, and medieval human rights atrocities
of our current time.
As we stand on the precipice of this vote, I ask you to join me in
taking a stand against the Chinese Communist Party's systematic
persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Since the early 1990s, the Falun Gong, a spiritual practice rooted in
the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, has been targeted
by the Chinese Communist Party. By 1999, Mr. Speaker, an estimated 70
million to 100 million people, roughly 5 to 7 percent of China's
population, were practicing Falun Gong.
This popularity triggered a brutal response from the CCP, unleashing
a campaign of illegal detentions, forced labor, torture, and most
horrifically, forced organ harvesting, a practice that amounts to mass
murder.
On July 20, 1999, the CCP detained hundreds of thousands of Falun
Gong practitioners and banned their practice outright. Since then, the
persecution has only intensified.
Multiple studies, including the 2020 report from the Independent
Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting, have exposed an incomprehensible
gap between the number of organ transplants performed in China and the
number of registered donors.
Mr. Speaker, the math simply doesn't add up, and we all know why.
Just think about it: An independent tribunal into forced organ
harvesting literally had to be set up to look into this because China
is a closed society. Regardless of what people might think because we
are allowed to travel to China, they are not showing you this part.
The CCP's secrecy ensures that China remains closed to scrutiny, but
the evidence is clear: Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims
of this barbaric organ harvesting system.
The tribunal's findings are staggering. They concluded that forced
organ harvesting has been committed for years on a massive scale with
Falun Gong practitioners as the main source.
The report states that the CCP and its leaders have actively incited
the persecution, imprisonment, murder, torture, and humiliation of
these individuals solely to eradicate their beliefs. This is not just a
violation of human rights; it is a crime against humanity.
Now, far away in the United States, many in the organ transplant
community are unaware of China's illicit practices, shielded by the
CCP's repressive control of information and global propaganda, but the
truth is undeniable: The Chinese Communist Party has built an
infrastructure to persecute millions of not only Falun Gong
practitioners but also Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, and others it
deems a threat.
The CCP's utter disregard for human life shocks the conscience. This
barbaric practice must end, and it must end now.
[[Page H1833]]
H.R. 1540 is a historic step forward, the first binding commitment by
Congress to take decisive legal action against the persecution and
forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.
This bill imposes sanctions on those who would participate in or
facilitate forced organ harvesting in China. It directs the Secretary
of State to investigate whether the CCP's actions constitute crimes
against humanity or genocide and to report on China's organ transplant
policies. It also establishes U.S. policy to reject any cooperation
with the PRC's illicit organ transplant industry while the CCP remains
in power.
Mr. Speaker, this bill paves the way for accountability, sanctions,
punishment, and acknowledgement of those complicit in these atrocities.
The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Patronis). The time of the gentleman has
expired.
Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. PERRY. The United States cannot continue to stand idly by. We
must use our authority. We must use our position as leaders in the
world to curb these practices and send a clear message to everybody
that not only will we not tolerate this assault on human dignity, on
humanity itself, but that no country, no people should.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a vote in favor of H.R. 1540. Let us stand
together not just for Falun Gong practitioners but for the millions
suffering under the CCP's oppression and tyranny. Let us affirm that
the United States will always champion truth, compassion, and
tolerance.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair, again, for bringing the bill to the
floor.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for
the purpose of closing.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1540 will help Congress better understand the scope
of organ harvesting and will enable the sanctioning of individuals who
knowingly engage in or facilitate this horrendous crime.
Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill signals that the United States will not
tolerate the use of state violence to extract profit from the bodies of
the persecuted.
I thank my friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), along
with his bipartisan cosponsors for their leadership on this critical
human rights issue.
Mr. Speaker, I urge strong support of this legislation, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 1540.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________