Senate Defies China Threat, Smoothing Path for Human Rights Bill

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate is rushing to approve a bill to punish China for the oppression of a Muslim ethnic group, with a bipartisan pair of senators maneuvering to get the measure to President Donald Trump as soon as possible.

Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democrat Mark Warner introduced legislation Wednesday that would control exports to China of surveillance and detention technologies. The legislation is aimed at stopping oppression of the Uighur population, concentrated in the Xinjiang province of northwest China, the senators said in a statement.

The introduction of the bill, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate Banking Committee, helps smooth internal Senate politics and clear the way for the chamber to pass a broader measure approved by the House of Representatives Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the effort.

The move is designed to expedite Senate passage and send the legislation to Trump to sign into law, which would further anger Chinese officials who have already threatened retaliation for two new U.S. laws supporting Hong Kong. The overwhelming bipartisan support for measures punishing China makes them difficult for Trump to veto, even as he tries to salvage the trade deal he's negotiating with Beijing.

The Cornyn-Warner bill contains language from the House-passed bill regarding export controls, which allows the Banking Committee to weigh in on the provision and sidestep any jurisdictional issues that could have slowed the effort.

Read More: U.S. House Passes Xinjiang Bill, Prompting Threat From China

Senator Marco Rubio, the lead Republican sponsor of the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, which first passed the Senate in September before being amended by the House, said Tuesday there was broad bipartisan agreement about the policy goals of the legislation. He said he wants the Senate to pass the House version before the end of the year.

“It's not about the particulars of it, it's not about the policy of it,” said Rubio, a Florida Republican. “We need to get something sent over here that's acceptable to both sides and that we could hopefully persuade Banking to waive jurisdiction on it.”

Among other provisions, the Uighur human rights bill passed by the House gives the president 120 days to send Congress a list of senior Chinese government officials guilty of human rights abuses against Uighurs in Xianjiang or elsewhere in China.

The president would be required to impose visa and financial restrictions on the listed individuals under the Global Magnitsky Act.

Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and co-sponsor of the legislation, said Wednesday that he expected the bill could pass the Senate using an expedited process that requires unanimous support.

“They changed one element of it on export controls,” Menendez said of the House version of the bill. “We can reconcile that with the Banking Committee and it gets unanimous consent.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch said in a statement Wednesday that he would work with senators “on the way forward for this important piece of legislation.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Kevin Whitelaw

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.