[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E719-E720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE COURAGE OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANDREW OGLES

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 21, 2026

  Mr. OGLES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the courage of 
Falun Gong practitioners, who for more than two decades have faced 
severe persecution in China because of their beliefs--beliefs centered 
on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, and on 
a desire to revive traditional Chinese culture and values.
  According to documentation compiled by Minghui.org, at least 5,910 
Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of repression by the 
Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP has also subjected Falun Gong 
practitioners to arbitrary detention, torture, and forced organ 
harvesting--an atrocity that shocks the conscience.
  I also rise to recognize the Tuidang Movement--translated as the 
``Quitting the CCP Movement''--and to commend the Global Service Center 
for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, known as the Tuidang Center, 
for its work in support of freedom of conscience and human dignity.
  In December 2004, The Epoch Times published a report titled Nine 
Commentaries on the Communist Party, an account of the Party's history. 
According to that report, the CCP has been responsible since 1949 for 
the unnatural deaths of 60 to 80 million Chinese people, and by now 
likely more. It also highlighted the hundreds of millions of abortions 
committed under China's coercive population control regimes, and in 
2013, China's own health ministry corroborated this when it released 
data showing that more than 300 million abortions had been performed 
since 1971.
  Over the following two decades, according to organizers, millions of 
copies of the Nine Commentaries were reproduced and distributed within 
China by Falun Gong practitioners, often at great personal risk. That 
effort helped give rise to the Tuidang Movement, through which 
individuals can renounce their affiliation with the CCP, the Communist 
Youth League, and the Young Pioneers, frequently using pseudonyms to 
protect their safety.
  The Tuidang Center, based in New York, collects these withdrawal 
statements through volunteer networks and tracks the movement's growth. 
Its volunteers outside China also reach Chinese citizens by phone, 
message, and email to share information about withdrawing from the CCP 
and its affiliated organizations. In recent years, Chinese immigrants 
have publicly announced their withdrawals at Tuidang rallies in 
Flushing, New York, receiving certificates memorializing their 
decisions.
  According to the Tuidang Center's records, as of July 2026, more than 
464 million people have submitted statements dissociating themselves 
from the CCP or its affiliated organizations. This movement of 
nonviolent resistance to totalitarianism represents an awakening of 
conscience, grounded in a desire to reclaim China's cultural and moral 
heritage. Such resistance helps lay the moral foundation for a future 
of greater freedom and justice in China, while also standing against 
the spread of communist ideology worldwide. The witness of those who 
participate in this movement should also remind Americans of the 
continuing dangers posed by communist ideology.
  The CCP has a well-documented history of transnational repression, 
and the Tuidang Center states that its own work has faced intimidation 
and disruption here in the United States. According to the Center, it 
received eight threatening letters between April 20 and 28, 2025, and 
its public booths in Flushing were vandalized on April 29, 2025. 
Transnational repression targeting advocates on American soil is a 
serious matter, and such conduct has no place in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the right to hold and peacefully express one's beliefs, 
and to associate or disassociate freely, is a fundamental human right. 
I honor the courage of Falun Gong practitioners and the volunteers of 
the Tuidang Movement, and I commend the Global Service Center for 
Quitting the Chinese Communist Party for its work on behalf of freedom 
of conscience. I urge my colleagues to join me in standing with all who 
peacefully advocate for human dignity and the freedom to believe.

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