Rick Scott, FL
“I want the Senate to pass my bill right now. People from enemy nations like China are paying American surrogates to have babies so the children get American citizenship. Some of these parents never even visit the United States, and some abandon the children here. My bill bans paid surrogacy deals with citizens from countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, and punishes the brokers who arrange them.”
“Mr. President, I rise today to again ask for unanimous consent to pass the SAFE KIDS Act. When I first came to the floor in July to advocate for this bill, my Democrat colleague called the issue of surrogate birth tourism a conspiracy theory. It was suggested that I was trying to prevent Americans from having families through surrogacy or other means. That was untrue then, and it is clearly untrue now. In July, I came to the floor to warn about Chinese birth tourism based on a story in my home State of Florida. It was a real story hurting one of my constituents, and I wanted to raise the alarm. I warned this body months ago of this national security threat. Here is what has happened since. This story from my State and others like it have made national headlines. CBS: `` `Who do we hand the baby to?’ Loopholes and shady practices taint U.S. surrogacy industry.’’ The Wall Street Journal: ``The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate.’’ Fortune: ``Chinese billionaire who has fathered more than 100 children’’--you can’t make this stuff up--``hopes to have dozens of U.S.-born boys to one day take over his business.’’ The Wall Street Journal: ``A Florida Surrogate, a Father in China, and the Babies Caught in Between.’’ New York Magazine: ``Whose babies are these? A Chinese man hired a Florida surrogate, then didn’t pick up his kids, sparking a custody battle that could upend the industry.’’ So the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and CBS News have all run major stories about birth tourism since I last brought this to the floor. We cannot ignore it anymore, and we know it is not a conspiracy theory. Anyone overseas, including citizens of enemy countries--these are the types of people that could have surrogates--can get American birthright citizenship for a child by contracting a surrogate in America. They don’t even have to set foot in America. You can’t make this stuff up. No sane country would ever allow this. The threat is obvious: foreign adversaries having a backdoor to every privilege of being an American while spending no time--no time; they don’t even have to show up in this country. And their kids are not being taught to love our country. This threat isn’t empty. Our laws are being leveraged by foreigners right now. Chinese billionaire Xu Bo, a member of the CCP, has allegedly fathered between 100 and 300 American children via surrogacy, with birthright citizenship. As of today, no Federal legislation exists to prevent this. Right now, Xu Bo’s actions are completely legal. Do we think he is having American children and taking them back to China to make America better? Of course not. This is a critical problem that could undermine American sovereignty, but even worse, we are talking about child trafficking. These children are being treated like commodities instead of human beings. We should all be asking ourselves: What happens to these children? Who raises them? What are they taught? What country are they taught to love? And what happens when they are old enough to return to the United States? Can they attend our universities? Can they serve in our military? Can they receive security clearances? Can they run for President? These are legitimate questions and a real vulnerability if we don’t act on this today. One of my constituents Kyla Simpson is dealing with those questions right now. A Chinese citizen contracted her to be a surrogate, and then he never showed up. Her sons are now almost 2. The ``father’’ has never set foot on U.S. soil, but she is fighting tooth and nail to keep them in the only home they have ever known. My bill fixes the problem by doing two things. First, it will invalidate commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign adversaries--communist China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. Second, it will create a misdemeanor penalty for any broker who knowingly facilitates one of these prohibited arrangements. This is a very narrow bill. The bill is targeted at solving this exact problem we are seeing today. It would mean people like Xu Bo cannot father American citizens while living in communist China and take them back to be raised by the CCP. It is going to protect women and children like Kyla Simpson and her two sons. American citizenship should not be for sale, and our enemies cannot be allowed to buy it. This country, its sovereignty, and its future are worth protecting. Everyone in this Chamber should believe that and support this bill. I hope that my colleagues have seen the reports and the problem with birth tourism since we last discussed it, and I hope all of my colleagues see the solution here: passing a very narrow bill, the SAFE KIDS Act. Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3101 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. Further, I ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”
Mr. President, I rise today to again ask for unanimous consent to pass the SAFE KIDS Act. When I first came to the floor in July to advocate for this bill, my Democrat colleague called the issue of surrogate birth tourism a conspiracy theory. It was suggested that I was trying to prevent Americans from having families through surrogacy or other means. That was untrue then, and it is clearly untrue now. In July, I came to the floor to warn about Chinese birth tourism based on a story in my home State of Florida. It was a real story hurting one of my constituents, and I wanted to raise the alarm. I warned this body months ago of this national security threat. Here is what has happened since. This story from my State and others like it have made national headlines. CBS: `` `Who do we hand the baby to?’ Loopholes and shady practices taint U.S. surrogacy industry.’’ The Wall Street Journal: ``The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate.’’ Fortune: ``Chinese billionaire who has fathered more than 100 children’’--you can’t make this stuff up--``hopes to have dozens of U.S.-born boys to one day take over his business.’’ The Wall Street Journal: ``A Florida Surrogate, a Father in China, and the Babies Caught in Between.’’ New York Magazine: ``Whose babies are these? A Chinese man hired a Florida surrogate, then didn’t pick up his kids, sparking a custody battle that could upend the industry.’’ So the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and CBS News have all run major stories about birth tourism since I last brought this to the floor. We cannot ignore it anymore, and we know it is not a conspiracy theory. Anyone overseas, including citizens of enemy countries--these are the types of people that could have surrogates--can get American birthright citizenship for a child by contracting a surrogate in America. They don’t even have to set foot in America. You can’t make this stuff up. No sane country would ever allow this. The threat is obvious: foreign adversaries having a backdoor to every privilege of being an American while spending no time--no time; they don’t even have to show up in this country. And their kids are not being taught to love our country. This threat isn’t empty. Our laws are being leveraged by foreigners right now. Chinese billionaire Xu Bo, a member of the CCP, has allegedly fathered between 100 and 300 American children via surrogacy, with birthright citizenship. As of today, no Federal legislation exists to prevent this. Right now, Xu Bo’s actions are completely legal. Do we think he is having American children and taking them back to China to make America better? Of course not. This is a critical problem that could undermine American sovereignty, but even worse, we are talking about child trafficking. These children are being treated like commodities instead of human beings. We should all be asking ourselves: What happens to these children? Who raises them? What are they taught? What country are they taught to love? And what happens when they are old enough to return to the United States? Can they attend our universities? Can they serve in our military? Can they receive security clearances? Can they run for President? These are legitimate questions and a real vulnerability if we don’t act on this today. One of my constituents Kyla Simpson is dealing with those questions right now. A Chinese citizen contracted her to be a surrogate, and then he never showed up. Her sons are now almost 2. The ``father’’ has never set foot on U.S. soil, but she is fighting tooth and nail to keep them in the only home they have ever known. My bill fixes the problem by doing two things. First, it will invalidate commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign adversaries--communist China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. Second, it will create a misdemeanor penalty for any broker who knowingly facilitates one of these prohibited arrangements. This is a very narrow bill. The bill is targeted at solving this exact problem we are seeing today. It would mean people like Xu Bo cannot father American citizens while living in communist China and take them back to be raised by the CCP. It is going to protect women and children like Kyla Simpson and her two sons. American citizenship should not be for sale, and our enemies cannot be allowed to buy it. This country, its sovereignty, and its future are worth protecting. Everyone in this Chamber should believe that and support this bill. I hope that my colleagues have seen the reports and the problem with birth tourism since we last discussed it, and I hope all of my colleagues see the solution here: passing a very narrow bill, the SAFE KIDS Act. Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3101 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. Further, I ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.