Richard Gere, the world-famous actor, social activist and philanthropist, has been the chairman of ICT for 25 years. He was one of four witnesses to testify at the “Censorship as a Non-Tariff Barrier to Trade” hearing of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness—and he took the opportunity to urge support for the TPSA.
Gere asked the members of the subcommittee to cosponsor the TPSA and raise it with Senate leadership for swift passage. The Dalai Lama’s succession “can’t be allowed to be controlled by the Communist Party, but only by Tibetan Buddhists,” Gere told the senators. “I’m sure that you support this basic principle, and I ask you to cosponsor this bill.”