{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415091", "Hearing set for Thursday, November 20Rep. Chris Smith to co-chair Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing, \u201cChina\u2019s War on Religion: The Threat to Religious Freedom and Why it Matters to the United States\u201d", "2025-11-17", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "On Thursday, November 20th, the co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) will hold a public hearing on the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) ongoing assault against religious freedom and its national security implications for the United States.\n\nWHAT: Congressional hearing on the CCP\u2019s efforts to quash religious freedom and oppress diverse religious communities through the means of coercion, intimidation, and transnational repression; and the subsequent implications for U.S. national security and foreign policy priorities.\n\nWHEN: Thursday, November 20, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM\n\nWITNESSES:\n\nAmbassador Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom (2018-2021), Governor of Kansas (2011-2018), U.S. Senator (1996-2011)\n\nIsmail \u201cMa Ju\u201d Juma, Hui Muslim human rights advocate\n\nBhuchung Tsering, Leader, International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Research and Monitoring Unit\n\nBob Fu, Founder and President, ChinaAid\n\nGrace Jin, Daughter of Pastor Ezra Jin\n\nWHERE: Senate Dirksen 106\n\nWHO: Co-chair Chris Smith, Chairman Dan Sullivan, other members of the CECC, and witnesses\n\nThe Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified its drive for absolute control over religion, insisting that believers subordinate conscience and conviction to the Party and to General Secretary Xi Jinping. This is not incidental to the PRC\u2019s domestic agenda or international influence; it is a core feature of Party rule, reflected in sweeping regulations on religion and detentions, surveillance, and harassment targeting believers and groups operating outside official bounds. The hearing will spotlight escalating repression targeting all of China\u2019s diverse religious communities and examine why the CCP\u2019s assault on freedom of religion matters for the United States.\n\nThe hearing will focus on: (1) CCP policies and tactics for coercive control of religion and their impact on individuals and communities; (2) Transnational repression used to censor and punish diaspora religious communities and individual believers abroad; (3) the nexus between religious freedom and national security, and the strategic importance of religious freedom diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific; and (4) policy recommendations for a robust U.S. response.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415091"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.176872920244932, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}