Thread by @jeffreychngo

1. Plenty of people put in plenty of effort to help these #HongKong-related laws — which you may or may not like — materialize. Since you asked, let me answer. Congress first introduced the #HKHRDA amid the Umbrella Movement, when it received zero attention from @BarackObama.

2. Never from 2014 to 2018 had it even moved out of committee in either chamber. Yes, it passed the Senate last fall when no one denied @marcorubio’s request for unanimous consent, but he took a while to defeat closed-door special interests before he could bring it to the floor.

3. @SpeakerPelosi chose another path, insisting on a roll call so whoever dared to oppose it must do so on the record. This was how the 417-1 House landslide happened. Despite these supermajorities, @realDonaldTrump was ambiguous until the last minute.

4. The PROTECT Hong Kong Act, which bans the export of U.S.-made weapons to the H.K.P.F., was spearheaded chiefly by progressives like @RepMcGovern, @RepRoKhanna, @SenJeffMerkley, and @SenMarkey in urgent response to the summer violence. They pulled many strings to fast-track it.

5. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act had far less input from folks like me. @SenToomey of the Banking Committee authored it, just to be held up by another Republican, @SenKevinCramer. I heard the rumor that orders came from the White House, yet this wasn’t public knowledge.

6. Only after @politico broke the scandal, causing an uproar in Washington, was it able to move. Overall, the executive and legislative branches were quite divided, both internally and with each other, on Hong Kong. Things could’ve gone in any direction.

7. What I’m trying to convey is that, as someone who has been intensely involved with these episodes over the years, I know nothing is inevitable. There’s opposition left and right. Hong Kongers’ strength and courage have changed some important minds, so yes, we do have agency.