The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“China (Executive Session)” mentioning Angus S. King, Jr. was published in the Senate section on pages S5064-S5065 on July 26.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
China
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, this has already been a big week in Tokyo for Team USA, and I hope all of my colleagues have the opportunity to watch a few minutes of the Olympic Games over the next few weeks.
Every year, we hear so much from commentators and athletes about how the Games are an opportunity for the world to come together, and that is exactly how it once was. Unfortunately, the Olympics are also a target-rich environment for people and regimes that want to use these rare moments of unity to trick the world into ignoring evil.
Before we were able to enjoy any of this year's double-pike vaults or 400-meter freestyle swims, we were already worrying about the impending havoc casting a shadow over the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Late last year, the Chinese Government began pilot testing a new digital currency that will inevitably knock other domestic mobile payment systems out of the marketplace.
The digital yuan trial has already pulled in $5.3 billion--that is correct, $5.3 billion--in transactions, and this month we learned that cross-border payments are also on the table. In fact, the trial has been so successful that Beijing wants to expand testing at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Now, as much as I would like to believe that this is an innocent effort to bring the world a little closer together, this is the Chinese Communist Party that we are talking about, and we shouldn't expect good faith because that is not what we are going to get from the CCP. We have reason to believe that the Chinese Government intends to use the digital yuan to conduct a massive surveillance operation on Chinese citizens and foreign visitors.
It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. The CCP has an unfortunate history of weaponizing emerging technologies against people they would like to control. They used it against the Uighurs, against freedom fighters in Hong Kong, and on the mainland against anyone who questions their party propaganda.
They are already using digital payment platforms to spy on their own people; and if we are not careful, they are going to use them to spy on Team USA.
This month, I sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee asking them to forbid our athletes from accepting or using the digital yuan while competing in Beijing.
The threats are changing, and far too often we see our allies and partners and even our own government ignoring those threats to preserve the status quo.
You may be asking yourself: Why is so much of the world willing to look the other way when confronted with genocide in Xinjiang or murdered protesters in Hong Kong?
It is because speaking up can be dangerous, especially when it comes to challenging the CCP.
China boasts the most in-demand market in the world. In fact, it is such a gold mine that you will recall the NBA ignored large-scale child abuse at its training camps in China just to maintain access to broadcast advertising and merchandise revenue.
Through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese Communist Party has sunk its teeth into some of the most valuable tourist destinations on the face of the Earth, on trade route, and strategic outposts.
They have sold this program as an economic development initiative, but in reality this debt-trap diplomacy is really just an extortion scheme. Once these countries fall into the trap, it is almost impossible to escape.
Even before the pandemic forced the United States into lockdown, I and several other of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were ringing alarm bells about our supply chain security. China is the most dominant global source of rare Earth minerals, technology infrastructure, and many active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Long story short, there is a lot on the line for the people of the United States. The cards are stacked against us.
It would be really easy to protect that valuable status quo by ignoring human rights violations and extortion schemes and other overt attempts to make the world a little less free. But as much as we would like it to be, freedom is not humanity's natural state. It is fragile. It falls victim to the weak and the power hungry alike, and, if we are not careful, yes, it will slip away, like it has in so many other countries.
Freedom does have to be fought for, and we need our leaders to set the example. That means staying focused on not following the example of countries that have given up their freedom. We don't want to live out the authoritarian nightmare that the CCP has created, but we also want to avoid becoming like nations that have already pawned their futures in pursuit of some grand socialist future.
I fear that our new majority has already lost touch with what the American people actually want. They sure don't want what the Biden administration has been selling lately. I can definitely tell you that after a weekend in Tennessee. They don't feel taken care of. What they are feeling is that they are being manipulated.
They want to know why President Biden and the Democratic majority keep trying to pawn off the freedom that makes us an example to the rest of the world in exchange for more government control that nobody asked for.
I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to remember that the American people entrusted them with the power that they are wasting on these radical wish lists items, and that power can be taken away just as easily as it was given.
The American people want to make certain that we do as Ronald Reagan implored us to remember. And, Madam President, as you know, last week I had that poster here on the floor. Freedom is always one generation away from extinction. It is our responsibility to fight for it, to pass it on.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. KING. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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