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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a video message as the House and Senate prepare to vote on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The bill will ensure that goods made with the slave labor from Uyghurs and others in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) do not enter the U.S. market. 
 
Broadcast quality video is available HERE and a full transcript is below.

Rubio: For the two years now, American companies — big companies — have been lobbying against my bill to crack down on the use of slave labor in China.
 
We as a country have become so reliant on China that we’ve turned a blind eye to the slave labor that makes our shoes, our solar panels, and much more.
 
But that changed today. 
 
After months of working on this, and negotiation, and having to play a little hard ball, my Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is going to become law.
 
It is a commonsense bill that says if you make things in Xinjiang then you need to prove that there is no slave labor involved in making it before you can bring that stuff into the into the United States.
 
In other words, the proof is now on the businesses — the burden is on them to show that they are not operating using these work camps. 
 
And if you can’t prove it, then your product doesn’t enter the United States. It’s that simple.
 
So, I hope and urge President Biden to sign the bill into law immediately. 
 
It’s time to end our economic addiction to China, and that starts by cracking down on slave labor.