Citing cases in which Chinese-government agents targeted U.S. officials, residents, and citizens from New York to San Francisco, the resolution calls upon the regime to immediately stop interfering with basic freedoms in America. It states that the P.R.C. government should “cease using the diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods about the nature of Falun Gong.”

The resolution also calls for the release of prisoners of conscience and an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. It challenges the Chinese government to “demonstrate its willingness to abide by international standards of freedom of belief, expression, and association.”

75 members of Congress co-sponsored the resolution and six representatives stood up to speak on the House floor Monday night.

“We will not sit idly by as you infringe upon the rights of our citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “Any interference in the exercise of free speech inside our land will result in the expulsion of those who engage in such actions.”

Resolution co-author, California Rep. Lynn Woolsey, added “China's diplomats…have been actively involved in harassing and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners here in the United States.” She also referred to U.S. citizen Charles Lee, saying, “he has been jailed and tortured in a Chinese prison since his abduction” in China on January 22, 2003.

The last comments before the vote came from New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone. “Falun Gong is an inherently peaceful, apolitical movement that stresses nonviolence and meditation,” he said. “I remain committed to the task of making Falun Gong safe to practice in any country in the world.”