The Select: A Weekly Committee Recap (Week of 12/16)
Welcome to The Select, a weekly newsletter on the work of the Congressional Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party led by Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI).
See below for this week's updates, the final edition for the 118th Congress!
Fentanyl Policy Working Group Unveils Bipartisan Legislation
WATCH: Lawmakers on the Fentanyl Group unveil new bipartisan legislation in the working group's last meeting of the 118th Congress.
On Tuesday, Chairman Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) joined Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), co-leads of the Committee’s Fentanyl Policy Working Group, to introduce bipartisan legislation that helps hold China responsible for the fentanyl crisis.
Spearheaded by Reps. Newhouse and Auchincloss, the working group spent months building on the Select Committee’s bipartisan investigation which uncovered for the first time how the CCP directly subsidizes fentanyl precursors and analogues, while also showing how the CCP has failed to aggressively pursue exporters of deadly substances or meaningfully police PRC-based e-commerce platforms for these sales. The lawmakers are now introducing three bipartisan bills aimed at better coordinating law enforcement efforts, strengthening sanctions on China-based and CCP-backed entities engaged in drug trafficking, and leveraging fines against PRC shippers that fail to implement appropriate transparency and related safeguards that hinder drug trafficking.
Members of the Fentanyl Policy Working Group are Rep. Newhouse, Rep. Auchincloss, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Michelle Steel (R-CA).
Click HERE for a copy of the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act
Click HERE for bill text of The CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act
Click HERE for bill text of the International Protecting from PRC Fentanyl and Other Syntetic Opioids Act
Moolenaar, Green: China attacked U.S. with hackers. We need to hit back hard.
On Monday, Chairman Moolenaar and Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) of the House Homeland Security Committee published an op-ed in Fox News, detailing why it's important to hit back after CCP state-backed hackers penetrated America's major cellular networks.
Read the lawmakers' op-ed HERE
Moolenaar on Supreme Court Hearing Arguments in TikTok Case
Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear oral arguments on the law that requires a divestment of TikTok from foreign adversary control. Earlier this month, the DC Circuit Court ruled against TikTok's challenge in a unanimous decision, declaring, "The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary's ability to gather data on people in the United States."
Following the Supreme Court's announcement, Chairman Moolenaar released the below statement:
“When the Supreme Court considers the merits of this case next month, I am confident it will join Congress, the Executive Branch, and the DC Circuit Court in making clear that foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party do not have a constitutional right to weaponize social media applications against the American people. I look forward to the Supreme Court upholding our bipartisan law to protect our national security and am eager to help President Trump negotiate a deal that will lead to an American takeover of TikTok.”
Moolenaar Weighs into International Trade Commission Case, Calls for Import Ban on CCP-Backed BOE Displays
On Thursday, Chairman Moolenaar wrote to the U.S. International Trade Commission today, urging the commission to follow through on a ruling and bar a Chinese company, BOE Technology Group, from importing products to the United States. In November, the ITC found that BOE infringed on multiple U.S. patents, however the ITC is set to still permit BOE products in the United States, despite the company being guilty of flagrant Chinese Communist Party-sponsored IP theft.
BOE is a Chinese state-subsidized LCD (liquid crystal display) and OLED (organic light emitting diode) company. While LCD and OLED technologies are found in household items like television and phone screens, the technologies also play a critical role in military and weapon systems. Chinese LCD and OLED companies now hold a significant portion of the global display market, posing a supply chain threat to our military. In September, Chairman Moolenaar asked the Pentagon to list BOE as a Chinese military company. BOE was founded as a supplier to the People’s Liberation Army, many of its clients are suppliers, and most recently, the ITC determined BOE infringed on multiple U.S. patents.
Read Chairman Moolenaar’s letter to the ITC HERE.
Moolenaar, Select Committee Members Call on Secretary Blinken to Support Internet Freedom in Censored Nations
Today, Chairman Moolenaar, and Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi joined Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and other bipartisan lawmakers to call on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to sponsor a federal prize competition in support of satellite technology that offers internet accessibility for repressed citizens of authoritarian nations like China or countries at war.
In the letter the lawmakers stated, “The value of open forums for ideas and information cannot be overstated: Authoritarian governments across the globe cut off internet access to maintain coercive power and undermine freedom. Democracy can prevail through civil discourse; it does not need propaganda or disinformation like authoritarianism does, but we must provide it with the oxygen to compete.
The additional signers include Select Committee members Reps. Neal Dunn (R-FL), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), and André Carson (D-IN).
View the lawmakers' letter HERE