Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs for yielding me the time.

I rise to congratulate my very good friend, the gentleman from Virginia, Frank Wolf, who has just talked about both Sudan and China as being very key areas where religious persecution has taken place and continues to be a threat. I've been working with the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and with other Members in a bipartisan way on the situation that exists in Egypt.

One of the reasons I wanted to offer remarks is that, when she stood up and talked about the Coptic Christians in Egypt, we obviously know that there are challenging days ahead; and I think it's very important for us to do everything that we can to encourage those who may have had a history of engaging in religious persecution in the past to recognize religious freedom, human rights, the rights of women, the rule of law, and all of the other very critical items that are a key part of the development of democracy.

So many people believe that you have a democracy if you hold an election. Well, Mr. Speaker, as you know very well, one election a democracy does not make; and there are other very important aspects of the development of democracy, and religious freedom is a key part of that.