John Kerry up to no good, as usual...

Sheesh, what is with this jackass? Another quote from "A Common Quest For Vietnam's Future" by Huong Duy Hung:

"If we can help the people inside Vietnam directly without going through the regime's organizations, we would definitely implement a deep trust in the people for the Revolution's righteous cause (democracy). How can we help the people in Vietnam directly? The best way to help the people of Vietnam directly is to do our best for the US Congress to sponsor and to vote in approval of a Bill that would have similar content to the Vietnam Human Rights Bill (HR 2833). The Bill HR 2833 was proposed and sponsored by Rep Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.

On September 6 2001 the 107th US House of Representatives, with 410/1 votes, passed HR 2833 without amendment. This Bill was passed in the House the same day as the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement. Both Bills were sent to the Senate on September 10 2001, for discussion and voting. The Bilateral Trade Agreement was passed by the Senate on October 16 2001. Yet, HR2833 was held back by Senator John Kerry. The senator would not release it to the Senate Floor for discussion and for voting. If the Bill was passed by the Senate, it would become law, binding on the US to take proper measure to enforce it.

By legal procedures, because Vietnam is in Asia, the Bill had to be submitted to the US Senate East Asian Pacific Sub-Committee (a part of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee) for discussion and for approval before releasing it to the Senate Floor for voting. This Sub-Committee was headed by Senator John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts. Late in 2001, Senator John Kerry released the Bill to the Senate Floor; however, for some reason, early in 2002 he took the Bill back and he did not release the Bill to the Senate Floor for voting during the term of the 107th Congress. Consequently, the Bill 'died'. In the future, if any representative or senator wants a similar Bill, it has to start from scratch in the 108th Congress."