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WASHINGTON — Majority Whip Tom Emmer highlighted House Republicans’ work this week to pass more than two dozen bills aimed at curbing China’s influence on the world stage, amid the Harris-Biden administration’s “disturbing pattern of appeasement” that has strengthened American adversaries like China. 

In case you missed it…

House GOP passes raft of bills contrasting China policies with Biden-Harris
Washington Examiner
Zach Halaschak
September 12, 2024
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/national-security/3148072/house-gop-passes-bills-contrasting-china-policies-biden-harris/

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a tranche of legislation this week designed to curb China’s growing influence and present a contrast with the Biden-Harris administration.

The bills are designed to target China in a number of ways, including by restarting a program to counter Chinese espionage and further restricting so-called Confucius Institutes at colleges and universities. The bills also restrict electric vehicle tax credits for batteries made in China and give Congress further power in overseeing the World Health Organization.

The “China Week” legislation is an effort by House Republicans to prioritize combatting Chinese influence and power ahead of November. The GOP, which is hoping to retain control of the House and wrest control of the Senate, is looking to counter Democrats as the election approaches, although all of the bills received at least some bipartisan support.

“The Harris-Biden administration’s disturbing pattern of appeasement on the world stage has done nothing but embolden our adversaries like China,” Rep. Tom Emmer, the Republican whip, told the Washington Examiner. “This week, House Republicans continued to lead where this White House has failed by passing a series of bills to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party and restore American leadership across the globe.”

The White House said it opposed all of the bills except for one.

One of the bills, which passed 237-180, would restart a Justice Department program called the China Initiative that was ended in 2022. The program would be renamed the CCP Initiative, which is short for Chinese Communist Party.

“Efforts by the CCP to infiltrate our domestic industries and steal American trade secrets cannot go unaddressed,” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “The Chinese Communist Party continues to ramp up efforts to steal and copy U.S. technological advances. My bill will give federal law enforcement the tools they need to effectively combat the CCP and safeguard American industry.”

The goals of the CCP Initiative, stated in the legislation, are to counter nation-state threats to the U.S., curb Chinese espionage of U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions, and develop an enforcement strategy for nontraditional intelligence collectors, like researchers in labs and universities.

Some Democrats criticized the first iteration of the program, arguing that the China Initiative unduly targeted people of Chinese descent.

“Rather than keeping Americans safe, the China Initiative divided workplaces, ruined careers, and contributed to anti-Asian hate,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). “If you were a person of Chinese descent working in American higher education, you were a suspect.”

Republicans are also targeting Confucius Institutes, which are programs arranged by the Chinese government and designed to facilitate educational exchanges around the world. Such institutes have been accused of being incubators of Chinese propaganda. Nearly all such programs have closed across the country as the U.S. tightened restrictions over the years.

The bill, which the House in a 249-161 vote, restricts funding to an institution of higher education that has a relationship with a Confucius Institute. The legislation also requires certain disclosures from colleges and universities involved in China’s police, intelligence, military.

Republicans have increasingly scrutinized colleges and universities in the wake of anti-Semitic incidents following the Israel-Gaza war, which sparked protests and demonstrations across the country.

In a statement of administration policy, the Biden administration said it “supports the intent” of the bill to restrict Confucius Institutes, although it has some qualms with it and “looks forward” to working with Congress to refine it.

Members of both parties have said they are worried about China’s dominance of the electric vehicle supply chain. Republicans are pushing for the U.S. to better build out and develop its domestic supply chains, and legislation that passed 217-192 this week seeks to incentivize U.S.-made EV products.

Specifically, the legislation would tighten eligibility requirements for the new clean-vehicle tax credit. As part of the partisan Inflation Reduction Act, eligible consumers are able to qualify for a credit up to $7,500 when buying EVs or fuel cell vehicles made in 2023 or later.

The latest legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), would make it so that tax credit can’t be claimed for vehicles that use EV batteries that contain components or materials that have been “extracted, processed, recycled, manufactured, or assembled” by a foreign entity with ties to China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran. There are rules in place to prevent Chinese entities from benefiting from the credits, but Republicans and some Democrats say they are too loose.

“The Biden-Harris administration has put out regulations on the electric vehicle tax credit that have excluded some of the inputs used to make EVs, giving China unlimited access to the U.S. supply chain,” Miller said. “This is devastating for American manufacturers and our national security. I’m thrilled this bill has passed in the House of Representatives to stop Chinese influence in our supply chain.” 

China and its ties to the World Health Organization took center stage during the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the GOP has been very critical of the WHO’s role in the pandemic and its coziness with China. Former President Donald Trump even tried to pull the U.S. out of WHO because of China.

One of the pieces of China week legislation gives lawmakers more power when it comes to WHO agreements. The legislation, which passed in a 219-199 vote, says that a significant segment of the U.S. is deeply skeptical about the WHO and its independence from political influence from member states like China.

The bill requires any “convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response” by the World Health Assembly be subject to two-thirds approval of the Senate.

“It’s deeply concerning that the Biden-Harris administration would even consider signing the World Health Organization’s pandemic treaty,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI). “We cannot stand by as they attempt to surrender control of our public health system to unelected bureaucrats at the WHO and the UN.”

Congress also passed legislation to safeguard U.S. agriculture from geopolitical adversaries like China.

Rep. Dan Newhouse’s (R-WA) bill passed the House in a 269-149 vote. The legislation bolsters the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States by amending the law to require that the secretary of agriculture to be included on CFIUS for agriculture-related issues.

It also requires CFIUS to review and possibly block purchases of farmland by foreign adversaries, for instance China, that are deemed to pose a national security risk.

“Food security is national security,” Newhouse said on social media. “I’m standing up to the #CCP and ensuring American families are protected against foreign adversaries’ attempts to undermine our agriculture and national security infrastructure.”

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