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Floor Speech
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Mr. MURPHY. Madam President.
It is of critical importance that this Senate stand together, Republicans and Democrats, against the ongoing genocide that is occurring in China today.
And I will say that, despite all the news about division in this Chamber, the coming together around China policies, the coming together between parties over the course of 2021 with respect to the threat that China presents to the United States and the global world order and the threat they present to human rights, both domestically and externally, I think, is important.
I support the underlying legislation, but I also want to make sure that we have the personnel in place that can effectuate the policy. Good policy occurs when the Congress steps up and hands the executive branch a tool that they can use, but we need craftsmen who can effectuate that tool set.
Pending on the calendar today, I would argue, are over a dozen nominees who would be in charge of implementing policy in and around China: the Assistant Secretary for International Organizations; the Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs; the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration; Ambassadors to Bangladesh, Brunei, Japan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam--all pending on the calendar today.
But perhaps the three most important nominees who will implement the policy that Senator Rubio and Senator Wyden are bringing forward today are these: first, the nominee to be the Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns; the nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, who would oversee this new policy, Ramin Toloui; and, lastly, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, obviously critical to the plight of the Uighurs, Rashad Hussain.
In particular, Ambassador Burns is uniquely qualified for this post, having been Ambassador to NATO and Ambassador to Greece. At his hearing, he made clear how he would view the Chinese behavior in Xinjiang Province. He said the PRC's genocide, its abuse in Tibet, its smothering of Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms, and its bullying of Taiwan are unjust and must stop.
Having an ambassador in China in place, having an Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, and having an ambassador working every single day on international religious freedom, hand in hand with this new legislation, gives the tools and the legislative authority necessary to get the United States moving toward the right side of human rights in China.
So with that, I would ask the Senator from Florida to modify his request to include the following request.
I would ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding rule XXII, if applicable, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Executive Calendar No. 525, 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); 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 time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed; that if a nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nominations; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
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