By Rep. Chris Stewart July is the month in which we in Utah celebrate both the birth of the United States of America and the arrival of the pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. I love celebrating both of these important anniversaries so close together. Our forebears who arrived in Salt Lake on July 24, 1847, like the pilgrims centuries before, were fleeing religious persecution and seeking a place where they could freely follow the dictates of their conscience and the practices of their religion. This year, remembering the reasons behind these important events seems particularly important. As a student of the American Revolution, I do not think it's by coincidence that the first line of the Bill of Rights reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." As part of the First Amendment, the guarantee of religious liberty is the foundational amendment, the single most important freedom guaranteed by our Constitution. Considering the role of religion in daily life at the time, it is clear that in expressing this concept, the founders were talking about more than the freedom to exercise religion itself but were speaking more broadly about freedom of thought and personal expression. Our ability for free thought and complex expression is the single most important element of what makes us all human. Therefore, when freedom of thought is restricted, our humanity itself is stripped away -- for religious and nonreligious individuals alike. This is one of the many reasons why freedom of religion is so important. It is a sacred and fundamental expression of our being, and America's commitment to these principles is what makes our country unique and great. Given this, it has been unnerving to see how quickly and easily the government has been able to put limits on religious freedoms during the current pandemic. We have had a small taste of what it's like to have many personal liberties taken from us. My religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, voluntarily suspended most religious gatherings, which I think was appropriate. However, I do not think it is appropriate for governments to tell religions or religious people that they cannot gather to worship in any format or number. In some areas of the country, healthy priests with protective equipment weren't even allowed to administer last rites to dying patients. This seems even more egregious when activities not guaranteed in the Constitution were given broad protections. When political leaders try to restrict freedom of religion -- and freedom of thought by extension -- it is the very definition of tyranny and will always lead to suffering. Let us never repeat the mistake of elected 19th century leaders in this country who failed to protect the religious freedom of early adherents of my religion. Never again should Americans be forced to leave their homes in search of a place where they can worship freely. When we allow the government to dictate the terms under which we worship, to choose the circumstances under which they will honor our rights, we have lost something precious as Americans and as human beings. It seems obvious, then, that when these freedoms are threatened, the very fabric that holds our nation together is threatened. This is why I have made the protection of religious liberty a key legislative priority. Right now, I have the only active piece of religious freedom legislation in Congress. Fairness for All is an effort to balance religious liberty and the desire for nondiscrimination protections for every American. We must use all the tools available to us -- through our judicial, legislative and executive branches, to ensure that freedom of conscience cannot be abridged. Independence Day and Pioneer Day mark moments when our ancestors stood in defense of the individual right to gather together in worship and gratitude. This Pioneer Day, join me in honoring their legacies by taking a moment to resolve again to defend the right to worship, believe and think in the way we choose.

By Rep. Chris Stewart Anyone who still thinks of China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a viable business partner is sadly mistaken. It is not a country that values human rights, freedom or mutual respect among nations. The reality is, the world has a China problem and it's time we found the fortitude to deal with it. Consider the reality of CCP rule. More than a million Chinese Muslim Uighurs are imprisoned in inhumane reeducation camps, targeted for nothing but their ethnicity and religion. A staggering 1.3 billion Chinese citizens are suppressed and controlled through social monitoring. This incredibly powerful tool is used by the CCP to brutally punish even the slightest infraction from approved speech, act or thought. China has intimidated neighbors, financially enslaved emerging nations and created military outposts out of the smallest atolls in the South China Sea. They not only deny the military purpose of these installations, but absurdly even deny their very existence. They have sunk legally operating fishing ships from neighboring countries in international waters, stolen trillions of dollars of intellectual property from the United States, hacked our most sensitive military programs and refused to adhere to any normal standards of accounting and business practices. Here in the United States, they have set up Confucius Centers at our universities that are used to recruit spies, gather intelligence and intimidate any who speak against them. On top of all of that is their staggering irresponsibility regarding the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At a minimum, the CCP withheld life-saving data in order to hide the emerging virus from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, they hoarded global stocks of personal protective equipment and critical medical supplies. Furthermore, despite internal documents warning of the virus's rapid potential spread, the CCP allowed massive amounts of travel within China and abroad during the Spring Festival (3 billion estimated trips over 40 days), and Wuhan held a celebratory potluck with more than 40,000 families eating from 14,000 dishes. From the unleashing of a global pandemic to the brutal suppression of a free people in Hong Kong, the Chinese government in 2020 has shown its true colors. If ever there was a threat that should unite the polarized spectrum of American political leadership, it is this. Republican House leadership last month established the China Task Force to do a deep dive into troubling questions with far-reaching policy implications. I am honored to serve on this important committee which will examine everything from national security and emerging technologies to global competitiveness and ideological threats to American values. This should not be a partisan issue. The country, and indeed the world, should stand united to thwart CCP aggression. The Chinese people deserve better. The American people deserve better. Congress must be prepared to proactively address China's provocations and counter the worst impulses of President Xi Jin Ping. Though Democrats were initially on board to participate in the task force, their leadership has since waivered. I believe that was a serious mistake. I also believe there are many within the ranks of the Democratic Caucus who understand the threats we face and would serve effectively in this role. The administration's public acknowledgment that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, combined with the CCP's imposition of a draconian national security law on the people of that city, sends a stark message. The United States can no longer afford to indulge in partisan battles while passively ignoring Chinese aggression. In my work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I've been raising the alarm on China for many years. In a world where 1 in 7 people are forced to live under this oppressive regime, American leadership is needed now more than ever. The current global crisis should be a wake-up call to the world about the nature of a regime relentlessly pursuing global dominance.

By Chris Stewart While the world has been focused on mitigating the physical impact of the COVID-19 disease, the economic fallout of a global lockdown is beginning to have severe repercussions on mental health, global poverty and national security. While the virus targets the sick and elderly, the lockdown is hitting everyone hard. For example, among the hardest hit are the world's millions of children living on the edge of despair. As we develop policies to confront this deadly virus, we need to consider an array of factors that we may have overlooked. Fortunately, the virus has proved far less deadly than initially believed. The numbers of projected deaths continue to be revised downward. Treatments and vaccines in development offer new hope. As we learn more about how the virus works, we are able to adapt more targeted behaviors and policies. Moving forward, it is imperative that we measure the public health impact of virus containment against the very real economic impacts on American workers, on vulnerable populations globally, and on our own security. A perpetual lockdown may be helpful in eradicating disease outbreaks but could prove deadly on an even larger scale. Here at home, economists estimate less than half of working age Americans will be earning a wage in the month of May. The mental health implications of an unemployment rate projected to rival that of the Great Depression are alarming. From my previous work on suicide prevention, I know that up to 20% of attempted suicides are linking to unemployment. As more and more Americans experience loneliness, depression and fear, they are at greater risk for suicide, domestic violence and homelessness. During the peak of the Great Depression in 1932, suicide rates hit a record high of 21.9 per 100,00 people, which is significantly higher than today's rate of about 14 per 100,000. In Los Angeles, the mental health crisis line reported an 8,000% increase in monthly call volume during the month of March. Consider that a moment. An 8,000% increase. Domestic violence calls in Utah have also spiked, according to local police. The mental health impacts at home are just the beginning. The United Nations warned in an April policy brief that the world's poor -- and particular the world's children -- are at increased risk. For the world's 100 million street children who survive by scavenging food on the streets, the implications of strict lockdown orders and breakdowns in the global food supply chain can mean starvation. The U.N. estimates between 42 million and 66 million children could join the 386 million children who are already living in extreme poverty, many in crowded and unsanitary conditions with no access to clean water. The report further suggests school closures threaten the 368.5 million children in 143 countries who depend on school meals as a reliable source of daily nutrition. Both at home and abroad, the public health threat is exacerbated by strict lockdowns that hamper access to routine health screenings and disrupt cancer treatments. Later diagnoses, disrupted treatment and untreated illness threaten to make curable conditions deadly. How many Americans will have their health impacted in a negative way because they were unable to complete normal screening for cancers and other diseases? Finally, we cannot overlook the serious national security implications of this dramatic event. Completely unnoticed in the national media is the fact that China has reasserted its "One-China" policy over Taiwan and arrested prominent pro-democracy leaders throughout Hong Kong, using the virus as a pretext to crackdown on any who would challenge their authority over the city. With the dramatic decline in oil revenues, Russia is facing an economic catastrophe. Iran is facing the same. Many poor countries will be unable to feed their impoverished people as supply chains are broken from the rest of the world slipping into severe economic decline. The potential for social disturbance and upheaval has increased dramatically over the past 30 days, leaving the world far less stable and more unpredictable than it was just a few weeks ago. This is a reality the U.S. military is confronted with. Adding to these concerns is the reality of our own diminished capabilities as we struggle to protect our fighting forces. Thirty days ago, we didn't know how serious the virus was, how deadly it would be, or how it would respond to treatment. With what we now know, we must consider the bigger picture. We don't have the luxury of single-mindedly focusing on the number of deaths from coronavirus when we know there are other negative outcomes that should also be measured. I'm not suggesting we disregard public health or human life. But we must measure it against the other costs as we make important decisions in the days to come.