Wagner

Top Wagner Actions You Might Have Missed:

  • As hundreds of thousands of Americans descended on Washington, D.C. to march for Pro-Life values and an end to Roe v. Wade, Congresswoman Wagner introduced the Prenatal Nondiscrimation Act (PRENDA).  PRENDA would make it illegal to discriminate against an unborn child on the basis of sex—which shockingly, in the United States, is not illegal. Approximately 117,000,000 girls worldwide have lost their lives due to sex-discriminatory abortions. PRENDA, if enacted, would make it a felony to discriminate against an unborn child on the basis of sex or to force a woman to receive a sex-selection abortion. Congresswoman Wagner spoke to NewsTalkSTL on Wednesday about PRENDA- you can listen to that segment here.
  • Congresswoman Wagner, along with Rep. Elise Stefanik and Sen. Rick Scott, sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a comprehensive review of the Biden Administration’s policies that have led to the worst border crisis in United States history. Since Joe Biden took office, we have seen eight straight months of record-breaking numbers of border crossings and 2,000,000 apprehensions on the Southern border. These dangerous policies have only enabled human traffickers and cartels. You can read more about this letter here.
  • As we noted last week, Congresswoman Wagner wrote a letter to the CEO of NBC Universal to “to air all footage of human rights protests captured during your coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, notwithstanding pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to silence dissidents.” On Wednesday of this week, NBC Universal announced that they would include the “geopolitical context of China” as the host nation. This is a major victory for human rights in China and will ensure that China cannot simply promote their nation through the Olympics while brutally oppressing ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs and students in Hong Kong. Additionally, Congresswoman Wagner, as Vice Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, joined her colleagues in issuing a statement addressed to the International Olympic Committee in affirming athletes right to free speech at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. This comes after a Chinese official warned that athletes must limit their speech on human rights issues or face “certain punishment”. The statement, which you can read here, calls on the International Olympic Committee to “issue a public reaffirmation of its commitment to protect free speech during the Games, and to clarify what actions it will take to protect athletes if the organizing committee or local authorities try to silence them.”
  • The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR), which includes known human-rights abusers like Cuba, China, Russia, Mauritania and Eritrea, was just given the authority to launch a “U.N. Commission of Inquiry” into the State of Israel by the UN General Assembly. The basis of this inquiry stems from the Israel-Hamas conflict in May, in which Israel defended itself over an 11 day conflict that saw 4,000 rockets launched from Gaza. However, the mandate for this inquiry also includes calls for submission of crimes ever committed by Israeli officials and also includes recommendations for criminal prosecutions—well beyond the normal scope of an inquiry from the commission. This week, Congresswoman Wagner signed onto a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging the Department of State to prioritize ending the UNHCR’s discriminatory treatment towards Israel, especially in regards to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry. You can read more about the UNHCR Commission of Inquiry here.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic greatly exacerbated the problem of sex trafficking and exploitation not only in the United States, but across the globe. The State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report warned the COVID-19 pandemic created ideal conditions for sex trafficking to “flourish and evolve”.  In order to counter this alarming trend, Congresswoman Wagner introduced the Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act, which would greatly influence foreign countries to bolster their anti-trafficking measures and create a coordinated response to this modern slave trade. As the Congresswoman noted in her statement on this bill, “my legislation would ensure foreign countries take deliberate action to reduce the demand for trafficking and help us target the worldwide sex trafficking trade.” You can read more about the Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act here.

 

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