Tiffany Amendments to Remove Barriers to U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation Clear House

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. House approved two amendments authored by Congressman Tom Tiffany (WI-07) to the Department of State Appropriations Act. Both measures would sweep away administrative barriers to U.S.-Taiwan cooperation.
 
The first amendment by Rep. Tiffany would end the State Department policy of relegating Taiwan’s elected leaders to short U.S. transits in cities that are often far away from Washington, DC.
 
The second amendment would remove unnecessary and counter-productive limits on communication and cooperation with Taiwanese officials imposed by the State Department through a 2021 memo. The Trump administration removed the restrictions during its tenure; however, the Biden administration reimposed them shortly after coming into office.
 
Rep. Tiffany’s remarks on the amendment to remove arbitrary restrictions can be found here and below.
 
“Mr. Chairman, why do we allow the State Department – through a bureaucratic memo – to impose these unnecessary and counter-productive limits on communication and cooperation with Taiwan? 
  
“We don’t have rules like this in place for the totalitarian rulers of Cuba or Russia… Both of whom operate embassies just a few miles away from where we are standing right now. 
  
“We don’t have rules like this for U.S. interaction with Iran… John Kerry has met on several occasions with high-ranking Iranian officials, and the White House just paid a $6 billion hostage ransom to the Ayatollahs. 
  
“We don’t have rules like this for U.S. interaction with Communist China… Biden administration officials continue to sit down at the table with the same CCP officials who our own Secretary of State has accused of committing genocide. 
  
“Yet we continue to enforce these degrading conditions on Taiwan, a long-time friend and fellow democracy. 
  
“Mr. Chairman, as the old Sesame Street song goes: ‘One of These Things is Not Like the Others.’ It is time to stop treating our friends like enemies, and our enemies like friends.”

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