House Passes Uyghur Forced Labor Bill Nearly Unanimously
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed the House of Representatives 428-1, with only Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voting against it.
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The bill, which creates a rebuttable presumption that goods made by Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities were made with forced labor, would take effect 120 days after enactment. The bill also asks the executive branch to impose sanctions on any foreign person who "knowingly engages in, is responsible for, or facilitates the forced labor of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang, or who knowingly assists efforts to circumvent America's ban on importing goods made with forced labor from Xinjiang. The sanctions section would terminate five years after enactment.
The Senate passed its own version of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act earlier this year (see 2107160003), which is generally seen as not as strict as this House version, because it would go into effect after 300 days and a public comment process, and it would require CBP to provide guidance to importers about what type of evidence they could offer that their detained goods were not made with forced labor.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the lead Republican on that Senate bill, has said that because the House bill touches on the territory of several Senate committees, that would make it easier for opponents to kill it.