How the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Became Law, Parts 6 and 7

A senator presses the issue. Partisan feuds heighten, but aides forge ahead with a final version of the bill.

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Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of five installments in a story documenting the creation and passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The first installment is available here. The second is available here, the third is here, and the fifth is here. The story is based on more than 21 hours of interviews with more than two dozen people involved, including lawmakers, staff, and human rights advocates. An audio version of the story is available here. Dispatch members can download a PDF of the full report here.

6. Showdown

Three weeks before the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law, human rights advocates were convinced the bill was almost dead.

Nothing indicated it was going to move in the House. The White House made no assurances that the president would support it, and officials signaled publicly and privately in the opposite direction. Plus, corporate resistance remained strong.

“It’s pretty clear that the White House didn’t want this thing moving at the time, until it became unavoidable,” Senator Rubio says.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Thanks for all the hard work that went into this, Haley.

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    Jeremy Davison

    Haley, I cannot speak highly enough about this piece. Thank you so much for the hard work that you and the other dispatchers put into this. The writing is excellent, and it is truly moving to see that our democracy can still function.

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    Robert Knudson

    Finished the PDF and as there are no comments there I wanted to commend Haley and The Dispatch for their excellent work. Candidly, I hesitate to offer too much praise for the value adds I have received with this subscription as I fear a significant price increase. That being said, it is good to know that there is still an audience for substantive political reporting and that occasionally a small measure of good can come out of our government.

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      EricRemcon@gmail

      I’ve alluded to a probable price increase in some of my past comments also. When you look at the other offerings on Substack (quantity and quality) there is no doubt TD is a bargain. 🙂

      I assume there will be an increase next year or possibly a premium level subscription if Substack can support that model. I will happily pay any increase. My only real complaint is the lack of transcripts for podcasts (I only listen to maybe 10% instead of the 75-100% I would read).

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  4. Joe1776

    China's regime enslaves people and commits genocide. So we will refuse to buy a few products from them but we will continue to buy a huge number of other products from them. This supposedly shows "The big picture is America took a clear stand on human rights,..."

    I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good, and I am glad this passed. But this is anything but a "clear stand on human rights". This needs to be the first step that raises awareness and leads to more sweeping change. I appreciate the dispatch covering this which sadly seems to be a somewhat buried issue. I hope this law is just the first step in exposing and fighting against this evil regime.

    We should stop all trade with slave owners and those committing genocide. So that we don't have a straw man situation, we should also stop trade with any countries that do business with slave owners and those committing genocide.

    That we shouldn't economically support such evil should not be controversial. Is the argument, that it will have a big economic impact if we don't by from slave owners? Isn't that the same argument the south made before the civil war? Does it suddenly sound convincing to modern Americans? China has already thrown down the gauntlet and decided they will play hard ball. Is genocide and slavery not evil enough for us to refuse any further cooperation? We stood against evil in the cold war and our own civil war. We can do it again.

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    Joseph.A.Timmer

    They should replace "I'm Just a Bill" with this series in school when they teach you how a bill becomes law!

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    EricRemcon@gmail

    ❤❤👏👏 Good Job Haley!

    I am late to comment because I downloaded and read the PDF on Monday, but did not want to get ahead of your releases. I know there is one more installment, but I won’t be able to post tomorrow so here are my thoughts:

    First, thank you Haley and TD for putting the time and effort into providing an in-depth look at how an “easy to pass” bill actually made it through. I say easy because of the obvious need and the seemingly overlapping interests of labor and China hawk groups. The most important insight I took from your effort is the invasiveness of corporate lobbies. The lack of public outcry from corporations (who would obviously be opposed) demonstrates the dangerous behind-the-scenes influence they continue to have through lobbyist channels and you do a good job showing that.

    I appreciate everyone’s efforts to make it loop hole proof, but as we see with corporate tax laws, deep pocketed, highly motivated corporations usually find a work around. I hope that the language AND the executive branch enforcement groups are tight enough to make it stick.

    China is also highly motivated and will be willing to do a lot to transfer products/labor to other areas of the country to obfuscate the source and weaken enforcement. I am sad to admit that I am too cynical to believe this will have a big impact unless it is used a template and motivator for the rest of the Western world to follow. As we can see from the Ukraine war it is difficult to get actual sustained, economically painful actions out of them.

    It was alarming to see that the White House was so influenced by corporations and their climate interests that it acted as a point of friction rather than a lubricant to congress. The level of ambivalent support that comes through in your coverage does not give me a good feeling when thinking about how aggressive they will be during enforcement.

    It was refreshing to see an example of a MAGA infected senator (Rubio) keeping his eye on the ball and getting actual work done. Though of course, he had to preen and try to score points on the Ds in the final moments by claiming “D show bill” when he knew that real negotiations were on going.

    Even though there will likely be loop holes to close, it is nice to see congress doing something they should be doing (preventing the US from supporting slave labor) instead of what they usually do (passing one-sided bills in their own body that will never pass in the other). I usually a fan of gridlock (because so many of the bills are bad ideas or wasteful), but in this case it is good to see them acting in a worthy cause.

    Thank you again for all of the work. It is probably already on your calendar, but I hope you do a follow up after a years’ time to try to measure the impact.

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