The much-anticipated Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act failed to pass the U.S. Senate unanimously on Friday (Dec. 18). The bill was officially declared a failure in the current Congress after a Republican lawmaker raised objections. However, several lawmakers said they will push the bill again in the new Congress, which begins next January, to continue to support Hong Kong people who are being oppressed by Beijing.
On Friday afternoon, Senate Democratic Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) rushed to bring the bill to the Senate floor on the last day of the session, hoping to push it through unopposed. The Hong Kong People’s Liberty and Choice Act received swift, unanimous bipartisan passage in the House on the 7th of this month.
“The national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party this past June has led to the relentless abuse of protesters, political leaders, journalists and teachers,” Durbin said in his remarks on the floor of the chamber, “and despite the law’s name, it actually has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with fear. “
“There is fear of the voices calling for democratic and liberal reform in Hong Kong,” Durbin said.
In his floor speech, Senator Blumenthal, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for bipartisan support to move the bill through the legislative process on a no-objection basis. “Let’s stick to our principles, and let’s do it now because of the urgency of this moment and the need for temporary protected status for those refugees. Let’s act now.”
However, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) then went on to speak out against it. Calling the legislation an attempt by Democrats to “advance their long-term goal of trying to change U.S. immigration law,” Sen. Cruz claimed that the relaxed immigration standards would potentially become a loophole that would allow Beijing the opportunity to infiltrate spies into the United States.
Hong Kong today, as I have said many times, is the new Berlin,” Cruz said. It is the front line of opposition to communist tyranny. However, this bill is not designed to solve that problem. Under current law, individuals in Hong Kong already qualify as refugees under our existing immigration laws. In fact, President Trump explicitly increased the number of refugee slots available for allocation to Hong Kong in July.”
“On the contrary, this bill is specifically designed to significantly reduce the labeling of refugee and asylum status,” Cruz continued, “There is no reason why we should lower that standard, and there is a particular risk in doing so. When we do that, we know it will be used by the Chinese Communist Party to send more Chinese spies into the United States.”
Senators Durbin and Blumenthal, both Democrats, have repeatedly pointed out that this bill, HR 8428, the Hong Kong People’s Liberty and Choice Act, would provide complete and detailed background security checks for the bill’s beneficiaries.
The bill would provide Temporary Protected Status to Hong Kong residents who are currently in the United States on visas but may face political persecution if they return to Hong Kong, adding Hong Kong to the 10 other countries that have TPS, including Syria, El Salvador and South Sudan, and allowing Hong Kong residents already living in the United States to remain in the country after their visas expire.
The bill would also require the U.S. government to expedite the refugee application process for Hong Kong residents fleeing political persecution to the U.S. and exclude this category from the overall annual U.S. refugee admission limit.
In addition, the bill would distinguish Hong Kong from mainland China in immigration policy categories, even if the United States revokes some or all of Hong Kong’s special economic and trade status treatment. The bill would also promote international cooperation, particularly by encouraging like-minded allies to provide asylum to Hong Kong people oppressed by Beijing.
The current session of Congress is coming to a close, and if things go well, lawmakers will enter a Christmas holiday recess next week. Thus, Rep. Cruz’s vote against the bill represents a last-minute breakthrough failure of the Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act before the end of Congress.
Samuel Chu, director of the Hong Kong Democratic Commission, which lobbies for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong in Washington, later issued a statement expressing his disappointment.
“This Congress had the opportunity today to take bold, direct and cross-party action, as they have done for the past 18 months, to do something real for the people of Hong Kong,” Chu wrote in the statement. the tools at our disposal.”
In a social media post, Chu said the group will continue to fight for the issues in the coming year in the new Congress.
Several legislators said the new Congress will continue to push for bills
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has often spoken out in support of Hong Kong democracy activists, previously told VOA that he believes it will be difficult to pass the bill in the current session.
However, Sen. Rubio also hinted that even if the bill does not pass this Congress, lawmakers who support this legislative action will continue to push hard next year. “Hopefully, this will get us ready to move quickly and get moving within a month of the new Congress,” Rubio told Voice of America.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a Republican U.S. senator who has also been a strong voice for protesters for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong on Hong Kong issues, also told VOA earlier this week that the U.S. Congress has a lot of work to do on the road to supporting Hong Kong.
Hawley said, “Unfortunately, this is an unprecedentedly harsh crackdown by Beijing, and they’ve changed the law. So this is a very dangerous time for that city, and the road is not a good direction. They are not in a good position at all. But I want to salute those Hong Kong people who are fighting for their fundamental rights, who are fighting for their freedom and for a free world. Free people around the world must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong and work together.”
“This is a big issue, it violates international law, it violates their treaty commitments, it’s a danger to the United States and to our security, so we have a lot of work to do,” Hawley said.
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