Comstock on the passage of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act

Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) issued the following statement after H.R. 1150, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, a bill that she cosponsored, passed the House May 16 unanimously:

“Congressman Frank Wolf has dedicated his life to being the voice of the voiceless and was the conscience of Congress on human rights and religious liberty.  As co-chair of the House Human Rights Caucus, Congressman Wolf made it his mission to shed light upon millions of people who were in the darkness and being persecuted because of the religion they practiced.  Since leaving Congress, Mr. Wolf has continued to travel to the front lines to see firsthand the plight of ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria, including Christians, Yezidis, Kurds, and other ethnic minorities. He continues to hold the torch of religious freedom with his passionate leadership as he leads the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative to create a world where religious freedom is recognized by nations across the globe as a fundamental human right.

“I am honored to continue Congressman Frank Wolf’s longtime legacy in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District as an advocate for religious freedom not just for citizens in our own country, but for vulnerable people in countries throughout the world.  This legislation is critical to continuing the vital work for human rights and religious freedom that Congressman Wolf championed and as a result became known as the “Conscious of the Congress”. I proudly cosponsored this act to enable the United States to better battle extremism and counter violations of people’s basic human rights and religious liberty.”

Background:
The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to improve the ability of the United States to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide, and for other purposes.