Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), a company directly funded and supported by the Chinese Communist Party, continues to pose national security risks to the United States. This past spring, CATL batteries were installed at Camp Lejeune, North...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of Senator Rubio’s...
A mysterious respiratory illness is once again spreading in China. Until we know more about what could be a new pathogen, the United States must do everything possible to prevent the illness from reaching our shores. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and colleagues sent...
Una misteriosa enfermedad respiratoria se está propagando una vez más en China. Hasta que sepamos más sobre lo que podría ser un nuevo patógeno, EE.UU. debe hacer todo lo posible para evitar que la enfermedad llegue a nuestras costas. El senador estadounidense Marco...
El 21 de diciembre del 2023 expirarán las sanciones del gobierno de EE.UU. contra el narco-dictador venezolano Nicolás Maduro y 150 miembros de su régimen criminal, quienes son responsables de abusos contra los DDHH. del pueblo venezolano. El senador estadounidense...
On December 21, 2023, the U.S. government’s sanctions against Venezuela’s narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro, and 150 members of his criminal regime responsible for human rights abuses against the Venezuelan people, will expire. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)...
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1150):
“America was founded in part by people fleeing religious persecution, and the U.S. has a moral responsibility to be a champion for oppressed people around the world. When it comes to universal human rights that must be respected, few are more fundamental to the human spirit than the freedom to live out your faith according to your conscience, without fear of persecution, violence or imprisonment. But this right is under assault in every corner of the globe, and we must do more to defend it and counter the vicious attacks on religious minorities. Every day, the headlines speak to the necessity of this legislation—a bombing targeting peaceful worshippers at a Cairo church over the weekend, another deadly self-immolation in Tibet last week, and a mob attack against a mosque belonging to Pakistan’s beleaguered Ahmadiyya community just yesterday. So I’m glad we were able to get this bill done this year, and I commend Congressman Chris Smith for his leadership in passing this legislation. I urge President Obama to sign it without delay.”
The Senate passed the bill unanimously last week, and the House passed it today in a pro forma session. The bill strengthens and modernizes the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, providing the State Department with new tools to counter the spread of violent extremism and promote and advance the universal human right of religious freedom around the world. In April, Rubio introduced the companion legislation to H.R. 1150 in the Senate with Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and John Cornyn (R-TX). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed an amended version unanimously last week.
Rubio has been a leading advocate of international religious freedom issues in the Senate, and played a central role in the reauthorization of the bipartisan, independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last year. In May, he visited Iraq and discussed the plight of the Christian community in Iraq and Syria with the Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, and the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Mosul, Iraq.