For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has committed human rights abuses, like forced sterilization, against the Uighur Muslim people living in China. In 2018, a United Nations human rights panel indicated that President Xi Jinping and his regime had forced as many as 1 million Uighurs into concentration camps. An Axios report from 2019 estimated that as many as 2 million Uighurs were held in the camps. 

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the definition of genocide includes “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

As the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee's National Security Subcommittee, I strongly urged the Subcommittee's Chairman, Stephen Lynch (D-MA), to hold a hearing examining the genocide being committed by the CCP against the country’s Uighur ethnic minority. Because of the U.S.'s relationship with China, it is our duty to determine the extent of the CCP’s suppression of minorities and ensure that we are doing all we can to stop these human rights violations and protect freedom throughout the world. It is time to shine a bright light on these atrocities and the actions of the CCP.

Earlier this month, I also cosigned a bipartisan letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin urging them to condemn these atrocities and support freedom of religion for all. The first line of the First Amendment ensures protection of religious freedom because our nation was created so that everyone could have the right to worship how they see fit. Unfortunately, the CCP does not share our values, as the systematic persecution of the Uighur Muslims continues to prevail. Nonetheless, I will continue to hold China accountable for this genocide, in hopes that they begin to understand the universal human right to religious freedom.

The increased federal spending due to the coronavirus outbreak raises the urgency of getting the United States’ national debt under control. That is why I recently became an original cosponsor of H.R. 7602, the Fiscal Transparency Act. H.R. 7602 will increase the transparency of federal spending by requiring every federal agency to create an online financial profile on USAspending.gov.

This long overdue bill will provide transparency for both members of Congress and the public as we look for ways to stop piling this financial burden onto our children and grandchildren. I thank Congressman Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) for introducing this legislation and hope the bill receives the support it deserves from our colleagues.

Congress should always be mindful of how your tax dollars are being spent. Unfortunately, some of my colleagues do not agree. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Congress has passed trillions of dollars of relief spending. I believe that we should use this time to renew our focus of ensuring every taxpayer dollar is being spent responsibly and that every expenditure is accounted for.

As your Representative, one of the most important things I do is help the people of Wisconsin's Sixth District with problems they are having with federal rules and agencies. Although I cannot override the decisions made by a federal agency, I can often intervene on a person's behalf to answer questions, find solutions or just cut through the bureaucratic red tape. Below you will find a list of agencies that I am happy to help you with.

If you need help with an agency, I need a completed privacy authorization form to comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act. Please download this printable version of the privacy authorization form and then fax or mail to the address listed under the agency from which you are seeking assistance. 

If you are seeking unemployment benefits due to the COVID-19 outbreak, benefits are handled by the Wisconsin state government. Having said that, I encourage you to reach out to your Wisconsin state representative, state senator and/or Governor Tony Evers' Office if you are in need of assistance. You can find your Wisconsin State Legislators by clicking here and additional information on COVID-19 resources in Wisconsin by clicking here.

Here are some federal agencies I can help you with:

Education Department

FCC - Federal Communications Commission

Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Internal Revenue Service

Department of Labor

Medicare

Military

Office of Personnel Management

Passport Service

Postal Service

Social Security Administration

State Department - Visas

Department of Veterans Affairs