WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) made the following statement after the House voted to pass H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act.
Congressman Fitzgerald introduced two amendments to improve the underlying text of the bill. The first amendment would require the State Department to develop a plan to counter China’s Belt & Road Initiative, an initiative aimed to increase Chinese influence globally. This amendment was voted down by Democrats on a party-line vote.
The second amendment requires merging companies in the U.S. to disclose involvement from state-owned enterprises. The purpose of this amendment is to expose China’s use of state-owned enterprises in America to hamper competition. This amendment was adopted and included in the final bill text.
“Democrats’ ‘tough on China’ bill passed today does little to hold the CCP accountable or increase U.S. competitiveness,” said Congressman Fitzgerald. “In fact, the bill reads more like a rehash of the Green New Deal with proposals littered throughout the text to authorize billions of dollars for climate initiatives rather than combatting rampant abuses of the CCP. The bill does not include sanctions on China, would not investigate the origins of COVID-19, and lets Confucius Institutes off the hook. The bottom line is, the CCP is a proven threat to American security and this bill falls considerably short of a meaningful response.”
