{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kaptur-democratic-colleagues-call-biden-administration-aggressively", "Kaptur, Democratic Colleagues Call on Biden Administration to Aggressively Enforce Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Against Chinese Solar Companies", "2022-07-12", "2022", "2022-07", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Marcy Kaptur", "K000009", "kaptur.house.gov", "kaptur", "https://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) joined six House Democrats in a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus calling for aggressive enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.\n\nThe letter, sent by Reps. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Tim Ryan (OH-13), Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Mike Doyle (PA-18), Bill Pascrell (NJ-09), Tom Suozzi (NY-03), and Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), inquired as to why solar products made by Chinese companies \u2013 whose techniques indicate the use of forced labor \u2013 are being imported into the United States. These companies include JinkoSolar, Xinte Energy, and Longi Solar.\n\nSigned into law by President Biden in December 2021, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act prohibits the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise into the United States that are mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People\u2019s Republic of China. The act is in response to China\u2019s mass imprisonment, torture, and enslavement of the Uyghur people.\n\n\u201cWe recognize the increasing importance solar energy will assume in reducing future greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change,\u201d wrote the Members to Secretary Mayorkas and Commissioner Magnus. \u201cHowever, this recognition, along with the relative under-diversification of the solar industry\u2019s supply chain, cannot cause the U.S. to compromise on values as fundamental as our commitment to upholding human rights. Doing so will result in the [Chinese Community Party] profiting off gross human rights abuses.\u201d\n\n\u201cChina is engaged in a campaign of widespread, systematic persecution of the Uyghur people,\u201d said Rep. Kaptur regarding the letter. \u201cThe United States must support American companies and American workers \u2013 not stand by while China enslaves its own people and then makes a buck on their misery.\u201d\n\nThe full letter to Secretary Mayorkas and Commissioner Magnus can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:25Z"]], "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://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kaptur-democratic-colleagues-call-biden-administration-aggressively"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5202644281089306, "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"}