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US chambers approve Hong Kong democracy bill, so what happens now?
- Foreign relations committees from the Senate and House of Representatives have given the green light to the draft act but the discussions and voting are far from over
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Sarah Zhengin Beijing
After more than three months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, the United States has moved another step closer to passing a law to support the city’s democratic freedoms.
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives voted to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would serve as an amendment to the existing US-Hong Kong Policy Act that grants the city special trading status with the United States.
Now that both chambers have voted to approve identical versions, the bill is set to move towards a vote in both the House and Senate in the coming weeks. But the proposal – which could pave the way for diplomatic action and economic sanctions against the Hong Kong government – will need to undergo a lengthy process before it can be enacted into law.
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So what happens next?
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After winning initial approval the act will now be presented to the House of Representatives by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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