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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) applauded the Senate passage of their bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (S.65), which will ensure that goods tainted with the forced labor of Uyghurs, and others, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and by certain entities affiliated with the China Communist Party (CCP) do not enter the U.S. market. Rubio previously authored the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-145), the first piece of legislation on Uyghur human rights to be signed into law in the world.  

“The message to Beijing and any international company that profits from forced labor in Xinjiang is clear: no more,” Rubio said. “We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses. Once this bill passes the House and is signed by the President, the United States will have more tools to prevent products made with forced labor from entering our nation’s supply chains. We cannot afford any further delay, and I call on my colleagues in the House to promptly send this bill to the President.”  

“Today the Senate is sending a clear message that the United States will not be complicit in the Chinese government’s genocide of Uyghur Muslims,” Merkley said. “Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang are being forced into labor, tortured, imprisoned, forcibly sterilized, and pressured to abandon their religious and cultural practices by the Chinese government. No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor.”

Rubio is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). Merkley is the Chairman of the CECC and is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Co-sponsors of the bill include: James Risch (R-ID), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mark Warner (D-VA), James Lankford (R-OK), Tina Smith (D-MN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ed Markey (D-MA), John Thune (R-SD), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Todd Young (R-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Angus King (I-ME), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tim Scott (R-SC), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Dick Durbin, (D-IL), and Patty Murray (D-WA).        

Related:

• June 24, 2021: Rubio, Merkley Applaud Committee Passage of Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
• December 22, 2020: Rubio and Merkley Applaud Inclusion of Their Provision to Require Administration to Determine Whether Crimes Against Uyghurs Constitute Atrocities
• October 27, 2020: Rubio Joins Cornyn, Risch, Menendez and Bipartisan Colleagues In Introducing Resolution to Designate Uyghur Atrocities as Genocide  
• June 17, 2020: Rubio Applauds POTUS Signing Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Into Law
• October 17, 2019: Rubio Co-Chairs CECC Hearing Highlighting Chinese Government Atrocities in Xinjiang  
• July 2, 2020: Rubio, Menendez, McGovern, Smith Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Letter on Chinese Government Atrocities in Xinjiang  
• March 12, 2020: Rubio, McGovern Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Group Introducing Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act  
• December 3, 2019: Rubio, Menendez Applaud House Passage of Senate Uyghur Bill   
• September 11, 2019: Rubio, Menendez Applaud Senate Passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act   
• May 22, 2019: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Passes Rubio-Menendez Uyghur Human Rights Bill   
• April 3, 2019: Rubio, Menendez, Colleagues Urge Strong Sanctions, Export Controls & Financial Disclosures to Counter Chinese Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang
• January 17, 2019: Rubio, Menendez, Colleagues re-introduce Legislation In Response To China’s Human Rights Abuses Of Uyghurs   
• November 14, 2018: Rubio, Menendez, first introduce the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
• August 29, 2018: Rubio, Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Sanction Human Rights Violators in China’s Xinjiang Region