WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jim Banks (IN-03) introduced the Countering Communist China Act, the most serious and comprehensive effort to combat the China threat introduced this Congress.
The bill is nearly 300 pages long and you can read it here.
Rep. Banks is introducing the bill as a counterproposal to Sen. Schumer’s expensive and ineffectual Endless Frontier Act, which House conservatives have been critical of since its introduction and as it took various forms since.
Congressman Jim Banks said: “Democrats’ China spending bills fall short, so that’s why House conservatives are introducing our own China bill as a benchmark for how Congress should address the China threat. Their bill places a burden on taxpayers and lets China off easy, but our bill protects taxpayers and holds the Chinese Communist Party accountable.”
Chairman of the Republican Study Committee’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Task Force Joe Wilson said: “The United States can no longer stand for China’s malign influence, human rights abuses, and dishonest behavior. As Chairman of the Republican Study Committee National Security and Foreign Affairs Task Force, I’m grateful to work with RSC Chairman Jim Banks on the toughest China legislation in years. Enough is enough, China must be held responsible for their actions.”
Among other things, the Countering Communist China Act:
- Bans the United Front Work Department—China’s political ops arm—from accessing U.S. financial institutions
- Prohibits American companies that get federal subsidies to go and expand their business in China affiliate with businesses with ties to the Chinese military
- Prohibits universities getting grant money from the National Science Foundation to work with entities with ties to the CCP
- Establishes new sanctions on Chinese companies that steal US intellectual property, including prohibiting them from transacting again with a US person
- Requires a determination into whether China’s negligence and coverup of the COVID-19 virus would meet the criteria of negligently using a biological weapon
- Creates new Select Committee inside Congress to investigate the COVID-19 coverup
- Spends just $1 billion as compared to the $250 billion Senate bill
