(Minghui.org) Senator David McCormick of Pennsylvania joined the co-sponsors of the Falun Gong Protection Act (S.817). Eight sponsors have jointly proposed the bill.
The Falun Gong Protection Act (S.817) was put forward by Senator Ted Cruz on March 3, 2025. The bill states that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still conducts forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. The bill provides for sanctioning those involved in the forced organ harvesting.
Senator sponsors of the Falun Gong Protection Act (S.817) (from left to right and from top to bottom): Sponsor Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, co-sponsors: Senators Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Rick Scott (Florida), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Todd Young (Indiana), John Cornyn (Texas), and David McCormick (Pennsylvania).
The Falun Gong Protection Act (S.817) sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz. For details, please click: https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/s817/BILLS-119s817is.xml
Hearing in Senate on the CCP’s Persecution of Religions
A congressional hearing titled “China’s War on Religion: The Threat to Religious Freedom and Why It Matters to the United States” was held in the Dirksen Building on November 20, 2025. Multiple witnesses narrated the CCP’s suppression of religious groups through the Party’s coercion, intimidation, and transnational repression.
Ambassador Sam Brownback, former Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, stated in the hearing that the CCP fears Falun Gong the most. He recommended that the U.S. government recognize the CCP’s genocide against Falun Gong. He urged the U.S. President and other senior officials to meet with exiled leaders of Falun Gong and other religions that the CCP persecutes. He called on America to stand with Falun Gong practitioners who advise millions of Chinese people to quit the CCP.
Senator Dan Sullivan moderated the hearing and said that Falun Gong practitioners are tortured for peacefully meditating. He said, “We are here today because the right to believe according to one’s own conscience is not a privilege a government may grant or withhold. It is a universal human right, central to human dignity and human flourishing.
“The CCP fears the power of faith because it is a source of values and moral authority it cannot control.”
Senator Dan Sullivan (center) moderates the hearing titled “China’s War on Religion: The Threat to Religious Freedom and Why It Matters to the United States,” on November 20, 2025.
Ambassador Brownback: The CCP Fears Falun Gong the Most
Ambassador Sam Brownback addresses the congressional hearing on religious freedom in China.
Former Ambassador Sam Brownback said in the hearing, “The CCP fears them [people of faith] more than our nuclear missiles or aircraft carriers.”
Specially discussing Falun Gong, he said, “This is the community the CCP fears the most because they are the most natural and indigenous to the Chinese people. They went from being introduced in 1992, to 90 million practitioners in seven years, before being banned by the CCP.
“China is at war with faith. It is a battle for control of their people. The CCP annually spends billions of dollars in their own country to suppress, contain, control, deceive or eliminate all religious entities that do not have the CCP as their leader. Religious freedom is seen as an existential threat to the Communist leadership.”
He said the CCP invented and perfected the surveillance systems and distributed them to over 80 authoritarian countries to assist with suppression of religious freedom.
Ambassador Sam Brownback addresses the hearing.
Mr. Brownback pointed out that the U.S. needs to make changes in its religious freedom strategies. He said religious freedom is regarded as a human right but not a core issue. Confronting the CCP, religious freedom is of national interest and is an essential and urgent issue. He said that we need to change our mindset and shift religious persecution from a human rights issue to one of national interest.
“China is at war with faith. We should strongly back these oppressed people of faith,” he stated.
He said religious freedom is an American value. We should urge President Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary Rubio, and Secretary Hegseth to meet with the exiled leaders of those being persecuted by the CCP, including Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists.
Mr. Brownback served as Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom from February 2018 to January 2021, and was the U.S. State Department’s chief diplomat for protecting global religious freedom; he also served as Governor of Kansas from 2011 to 2018.
All content published on this website is copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
