Today, the House Rules Committee did not accept Congressman Alex X. Mooney’s amendment to H.R. 5665 – Combatting International Islamophobia Act sponsored by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Rep. Omar’s bill would create a Special Envoy position at the Department of State to counter islamophobia. The State Department already has a Special Representative for Muslim Communities and two other State Department officials who all work on countering anti-Muslim violence and hatred. Democrats continue to do nothing to counter China’s use of Muslim slaves and other human rights abuses such as forced sterilization against Uyghur Muslims. Rep. Mooney’s amendment would force the Special Envoy position to work to counter China by stopping Uyghur slave labor and place economic sanctions on sectors of China’s economy. Democrats chose to make today’s vote a closed rule and refused to accept amendments. Their focus claims to be on anti-Muslim hatred and violence but does nothing to counter China.
“If Democrats want to take on the real problem of anti-Muslim bigotry and violence around the world, why do they continue to drag their feet on holding Communist China accountable for its human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims? President Trump declared China’s actions against Uyghur Muslims a genocide while President Biden has dragged his feet and worked to weaken bills in Congress holding China accountable for using slave labor,” said Congressman Mooney. “Creating a new government bureaucrat, when duplicative positions already exist, is a partisan messaging stunt that will do nothing to stop the oppression of Muslims around the world. It’s outrageous that when I offered an amendment to require the new Special Envoy position to actually do something – like sanction China for using Uyghur Muslim slave labor – Democrats wouldn’t even allow a vote on it.”
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