From July 26, 2022 post.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a vocal critic of China’s aggressive intellectual property and espionage policies, panned Senate Democrats’ decision to strip key accountability language from a bill ostensibly designed to increase competition with the communist regime. Instead, this legislation, which is being considered this week, doles out more federal spending amid record inflation.
“In the year since the Senate passed a comprehensive bill I backed to crack down on China’s predatory practices, China has become an even greater threat. Now, after a year of intransigence by House Democrats, the Senate is voting on a proposal that eliminates significant accountability language while unnecessarily spending billions amid record inflation. This is no longer a China accountability bill, it’s a corporate welfare bill, and I can’t support it,” Grassley said.
In June of 2021, the Senate passed a bipartisan package, with Grassley’s support, to crack down on anticompetitive practices by the communist Chinese government. The bill also sought to address supply chain challenges in the semiconductor industry, which had a ripple effect across the global economy. That bipartisan bill has been stalled by House Democrats for over a year. In the intervening time, the microchip industry has largely recovered while China has become an even greater threat.
LIGHT ON CHINA
The bill now being considered by the Senate strips out many of the previously-passed provisions championed by Grassley to combat China’s anticompetitive agenda, including:
Combatting Counterfeits - The U.S. marketplace has been flooded with counterfeit merchandise, often originating from China. This provision would have cracked down on counterfeit goods entering the United States by modernizing the Trade Enforcement and Trade Facilitation Act and expanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) authority to share information with rights holders and other interested parties on suspected counterfeit merchandise.
World Bank Integrity Preservation Act - The World Bank offers low-cost loans intended for developing or otherwise economically challenged countries. Loan recipients are expected to reduce their loan portfolios once they reach a certain income level known as a “graduation threshold.” China reached this threshold in 2016, yet remains one of the Bank’s top borrowers. This provision would have directed the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank to use their best efforts to deny any project in a country that has reached the graduation threshold.
Research Security - Inclusion of strong research security provisions is absolutely critical to addressing the China national security threat. Grassley is a cosponsor of an amendment to reinstate stripped provisions from the Safeguarding American Innovation Act that would, among other things, establish a coordinating council to standardize and secure the federal grant-making process, punish individuals who fail to disclose outside compensation related to research on federal grant applications and allow the State Department to deny visas to bad actors seeking to steal intellectual property and research through exemptions in export control laws. The bill also omits other key China accountability and competition provisions that previously passed the Senate with Grassley’s support, including: Stating plainly that “the PRC and the CCP are committing crimes against humanity and are engaged in an ongoing genocide”. Efforts to prevent fentanyl and narcotic trafficking from China.
The INFORM Act, a bill to establish transparency standards for e-commerce sites, making it more difficult for criminals to hide behind fake screennames to mislead consumers with fake products. The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, a bill to update pre-filing fees charged for mergers to reduce the burden on smaller deals. A slate of trade provisions designed to combat China’s unfair trade practices. HEAVY ON SPENDING
The semiconductor industry has begun to rebound, with construction on new facilities in the United States already under way, calling into question the justification for more industry-specific federal spending. Despite that fact, the bill being considered by the Senate increases spending for the industry to the tune of $24 billion above the previous version while making the aid less targeted toward national security. All told, taxpayers would spend more than $76 billion at a time when inflation is at a 40-year high.
PROCEDURAL SHENANIGANS
Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) required a procedural vote before final text was available. Even though amendments from any senator other than Schumer likely won’t be allowed, senators were required to cast votes on the bill before the final text had been announced.
Original source can be found here
