Beijing expressed anger earlier on Wednesday after the Senate’s unanimous vote, warning of “strong countermeasures” if the bill becomes law, and summoning acting US charge d’affaires William Klein to lodge a protest.

Michael McCaul, top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced China’s “authoritarian brutality” on display in Hong Kong as he spoke directly to residents of the territory from the House floor.

“America stands with you and America will always support you,” McCaul said.

The votes marked an unusually strong show of bipartisanship in divided Washington.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a sponsor of the Senate bill, applauded Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for swiftly bringing it to a vote in her chamber.

“As the Chinese Communist Party and Hong Kong government officials continue to violate the basic rights of the Hong Kong people and erode Hong Kong’s autonomy, the United States must make clear that we continue to stand with Hong Kongers fighting for their long-cherished freedoms,” Rubio said.

The rights bill passed as dozens of pro-democracy protesters stood firm inside a besieged Hong Kong university, where a four-day standoff against police has caught the world’s attention.

The city has suffered nearly six months of increasingly savage anti-China protests and unrest that began over a now-shelved bill to allow extraditions to China, which revived fears that Beijing was slicing into the city’s freedoms.

MORE: Our coverage of the Hong Kong protests

Follow us on Telegram for the latest on Hong Kong: https://cna.asia/telegram