Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22146 – 718:
You may recall the post I wrote about the Communist Chinese using the Uighur Muslims as slave labor making name brand products. That post is here. In that post, I told you about a bill by Sen Hawley (D-MO) which is listed in the above title. I wrote to the two senators from my state asking them to endorse this bill. I received a canned response, which I expected to be followed by a more personalized response. I received one personal response, which came on Tuesday, from Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) in which he did not address Senator Hawley’s Bill, which was only introduced in the Senate on July 21, 2020. He did talk about human rights issues in China and the work that he and Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) worked on to address several issues and work with our allies in the Indo-Pacific region, promoting Democracy and addressing human rights. S.2736 – Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 looks good but I think I will still watch Sen. Hawley’s bill as well.
Dear Mr. Thiel, Thank you for contacting me regarding human rights. I appreciate you taking the time to write. It is an honor to serve you in the United States Senate and I hope you will continue to write with your thoughts and ideas on moving our country forward.Respect for fundamental human rights should be a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, I have worked with my colleagues to continue this advocacy and condemn human rights violations all over the world including chemical weapons attacks in Syria, deadly violence against gay men in Chechnya, and the murder and starvation of civilians in North Korea, among others.On December 31, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), bipartisan legislation that I authored with Senator Edward Markey (D-MA). ARIA requires that the United States government actively promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region and authorizes over $1 billion over 5 years for these efforts. Rest assured, I will continue to use tools at my disposal to advance human rights around the globe.Again, thank you for contacting me, and do not hesitate to do so again when an issue is important to you. Sincerely, Cory Gardner United States Senator |
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