[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3056 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3056
To state the policy of the United States with respect to religious
freedom in the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 27, 2025
Mr. Budd (for himself, Mrs. Moody, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Tillis, Mr.
Young, and Mr. Sullivan) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To state the policy of the United States with respect to religious
freedom in the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Combatting the Persecution of
Religious Groups in China Act''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
(a) Holding Officials of the People's Republic of China Responsible
for Religious Freedom Abuses.--It is the policy of the United States to
consider that any official of the Government of the People's Republic
of China who is responsible for or has directly carried out abuses of
religious freedom, including those involving arbitrary detention,
forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions
on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement against
religious minorities, including Protestant Christians, Catholics,
Buddhists, Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners, in the People's
Republic of China may have committed a gross violation of
internationally recognized human rights for purposes of imposing
sanctions with respect to such official under the Global Magnitsky
Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.).
(b) Department of State Programming To Promote Religious Freedom in
the People's Republic of China.--It is the policy of the United
States--
(1) that the relevant bureaus of the Department of State,
including the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, should
support efforts to promote international religious freedom in
the People's Republic of China; and
(2) for programs of the Department of State to promote
religious freedom in the People's Republic of China and monitor
transnational repression of religious minority groups engaged
in by the Government of the People's Republic of China.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PROMOTION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States should promote
religious freedom in the People's Republic of China by--
(1) designating the People's Republic of China as a country
of particular concern for religious freedom under section
402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the International Religious Freedom Act of
1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii)) as long as the Government of
the People's Republic of China continues to engage in
particularly severe violations of religious freedom (as defined
in section 3 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 6402));
(2) strengthening diplomacy relating to religious freedom
on behalf of Christians and other religious minorities facing
restrictions in the People's Republic of China, including
through the widespread engagement of international partners to
combat abuses of religious freedom committed by the Government
of the People's Republic of China;
(3) raising the cases of religious and political prisoners
at the highest levels with officials of the People's Republic
of China;
(4) calling on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to unconditionally release all unjustly detained
religious and political prisoners and ensure that detainees who
have not yet been released are treated humanely with--
(A) access to family, the legal counsel of their
choice, independent medical care, and international
monitoring mechanisms; and
(B) the ability to practice their faith while in
detention; and
(5) encouraging the global faith community to speak in
solidarity with oppressed religious groups in the People's
Republic of China.
<all>