Congressman Barr’s full floor speech on the America Concedes to China Act. You can view the speech by clicking the image above or here. Democrats rejected six Barr amendments that address the threat of the Chinese Communist Party.
Washington, D.C.— Today, U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06) voted against House Democrats’ America Concedes to China Act. Following his no vote on the Democrats’ fake China bill, Congressman Barr released this statement:
“The Democrats’ so called “China” bill is not about confronting the Chinese Communist Party. This $350 billion deficit spending bill serves as a payoff to the climate activists and labor unions that run the Democrat Party. Incredibly, the package refers to coral reefs more times than China and climate change twice as much as national security. Their bill does nothing to hold the CCP accountable for or restrict funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the likely source of the COVID-19 virus that killed over 800,000 Americans.
“Furthermore, the bill completely disregards the work of the House China Task Force. In 2020, the China Task Force, representing 11 committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, conducted over 60 briefings with current and former top Administration officials on both sides of the aisle, business executives, Ambassadors, and various outside experts, examining six Chinese Communist Party (CCP) related challenges.
“After months of classified and unclassified briefings with more than 130 leaders and China experts, the Task Force issued a report with 82 key findings and more than 400 forward leaning recommendations, two thirds of which were bipartisan. The fact that the American Concedes to China Act ignored the Task Forces’ report underscores how unserious it is as a legitimate product.
“Finally, the America Concedes to China Act allows the CCP to maintain unfettered access to U.S. capital markets, making it inevitable that U.S. investors will continue to unknowingly fuel the rise of Chinese military and surveillance companies. We must defeat the Pelosi bill and enact a real strategy to take on the military, economic, and technological threat posed by the CCP.”
The America Concedes to China Act sends almost $10 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to the Green Climate Fund without any provisions preventing the funding from going to projects in China that use Uyghur Slave Labor. Additionally, the bill implements a “Supply Chain Resiliency” program that gives preferential treatment to labor unions that overwhelmingly support Democrats.
Congressman Barr proposed six amendments to the America Concedes to China Act, all of which were blocked by Democrats. The full list of these amendments is below:
- The Chinese Military and Surveillance Company Sanction Act of 2021:
- Requires the President to sanction CCP military companies included on the U.S. Department of Defense’s annual listing and other Chinese military and surveillance companies that pose a risk to U.S. national security. Companies supporting the CCP’s national security apparatus currently have unfettered access to U.S. capital markets.
- The Higher Education Research Protection Act of 2021:
- This bill creates a new Special Agent slot for each FBI field office nationwide dedicated to eliminating CCP espionage operations in American universities. FBI Director Christopher Wray said in Congressional testimony in April that the FBI opens investigations every 10 hours into new CCP espionage schemes.
- The National Security Through America’s Resources and Permitting Reform Act of 2021:
- This legislation streamlines and expedites approval processes for coal related projects that extract, recover, and process rare earth elements, critical minerals and carbon. An estimated 80% of rare-earth elements used in military weaponry like the F-35 fighter aircraft are produced in China. Barr’s bill amends the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to expand eligibility for FAST 41 permitting.
- Preventing National Security, Technological and Economic Sacrifices for Climate Concessions:
- This amendment binds U.S. diplomats to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony under oath to Congressman Barr in the House Foreign Affairs Committee committing to not sacrificing U.S. economic, technological or security interests in favor of obtaining climate commitments from the CCP.
- CCP Green Climate Fund Amendment:
- Prohibits funding authorized or appropriated to the Green Climate Fund from being allocated to any entity owned, controlled or under the influence of the CCP.
- The Countering China Through American Export and Competitiveness Act:
- This legislation would prohibit the American Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) from conducting large deals with Chinese State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), raise the dedicated amount for Ex-Im’s Program to counter China from 20% to 33%, and give Ex-Im the necessary tools to be more competitive against Chinese export credit agencies.