The House this week tackled a long-promised package of bills to get tough on China, but few if any have a chance of becoming law after Republicans opted to prioritize a handful of politically divisive measures that Democrats oppose.
For months, House leaders had promised a bipartisan show of force against the United States’ biggest economic and military adversary, including curtailing investments in sensitive Chinese industries, clamping down on data theft and espionage, and ensuring more Chinese imports were subject to taxes and forced labor standards.
But only some of those proposals made it to the floor this week. Instead, Republican leaders added a handful of partisan measures that appear to be aimed at portraying their party as stronger on countering China and Democrats, including the Biden administration, as weak.
It comes weeks before the November elections in which the White House and control of Congress are up for grabs.
“Because the White House has chosen not to confront China and protect America’s interests, House Republicans will,” Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters on Tuesday.
Here’s a look at what the House did, and why.
Subjecting international pandemic agreements to Senate treaty approval.
Republicans, who have castigated the World Health Organization for its response to the coronavirus pandemic, pushed through a bill that would require Senate ratification of any W.H.O. agreement on pandemic preparedness. The organization is exploring ways to streamline the international response to the next pandemic.
“This is nothing more than an international power grab by leftist elitists who hate America, want to infringe upon individual privacy and seek to attack the fundamental principles of American self-governance and self-determination,” Representative Bob Good, Republican of Virginia, said during the debate.
All but four Democrats opposed the measure, which passed by vote of 219 to 199, arguing that the United States must work with the W.H.O. to prevent the next pandemic.
Reviving a defunct Trump-era initiative to curb Chinese espionage.
The two parties also largely split over a measure to revive and rebrand the Justice Department’s “China Initiative,” a Trump-era program that sought to curb Chinese espionage in the United States. The Biden administration ended the program in 2022 amid complaints that it had been used unfairly to target people of Chinese descent.
Democrats argued that the program had discouraged talented Chinese engineers and researchers from moving to American companies and universities, but Republicans said there was no evidence that it had led to any bias or prejudice against people of Chinese descent.
The measure passed 237 to 180, with 23 Democrats and all Republicans in support.
Bills to prevent Chinese purchases of farmland and universities’ cooperation with Beijing drew some bipartisan support.
Dozens of Democrats broke with their party and supported Republican bills that would restrict the sale of agricultural land to foreign nationals from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, and would withhold certain federal funds from universities partnering with Beijing-backed research institutes.
Fifty-five Democrats joined all but one Republican to endorse the farmland measure, though critics warned that it could lead to scapegoating immigrants.
“This opens the door to treating immigrants as national security threats solely because of their country of origin,” said Representative Mark Takano, Democrat of California.
Thirty-six Democrats joined Republicans to support a measure restricting federal funding for universities that partner with Confucius Institutes, which Representative August Pfluger, Republican of Texas, charged have conducted “widespread military espionage inside the United States.”
Narrow limits on biotechnology companies and drone equipment won broad support.
Lawmakers in both parties banded together on the Biosecure Act, which would bar federal support for biotechnology companies that collect Americans’ genetic data.
There was also unanimous support for bills to prevent the use of drone surveillance equipment produced by DJI Technologies, a Chinese manufacturer that U.S. government agencies have accused of conducting widespread human rights abuses and providing sensitive data to Beijing; to prevent the purchase of Chinese-made batteries by the Department of Homeland Security; and to beef up export controls, among other measures.
Republicans omitted major issues amid industry pushback and internal turf battles.
Mr. Johnson signaled this summer that the House could tackle two ambitious measures that did not make it to the floor this week: a bill to restrict outbound investments in sensitive Chinese sectors and another to lower the price threshold at which imports from Beijing are subject to taxes and forced labor standards, known as de minimis rules.
The outbound investment initiative is mired in a standoff between the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Financial Services Committee about enforcement mechanisms. The legislation addressing de minimis rules has run into an onslaught of lobbying from shipping companies and retailers that generate significant revenue from cheaper Chinese goods.
“China Week is weak on China,” said Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois and the ranking member of the China panel. “What’s weak about this package is what’s not in there.”
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