Protecting Election Administration from Interference Act of 2023

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1398. This legislation, which would establish a so-called CCP Initiative within the national security division of the DOJ, is simply a rehash of the Trump administration's failed China Initiative by another name. Resurrecting this misguided program, as this bill would do, represents a clear step backwards.

When the Trump Justice Department launched what it called the China Initiative in 2018, it claimed its purpose was to counter efforts by the Chinese Government to steal American intellectual property. This might have been a laudable goal, but what actually resulted was little more than a series of unsupportable cases against Chinese academics at the height of their careers that left their reputations in tatters.

The government was forced to drop many of these prosecutions. Others failed in court. Even more were overturned on appeal. No matter how you look at the data, a postmortem analysis shows that the China Initiative was an undisputed failure. From the flimsy cases brought under this program to the so-called brain drain of scientists of Chinese descent who left American research labs, the China Initiative hurt our interests here at home.

The Trump DOJ devoted significant resources to targeting professors of Chinese descent working in the United States, diverting crucial funding and personnel that could have been used to combat actual economic espionage and trade secret theft.

However, the China Initiative did not just waste valuable resources. If you were a person of Chinese descent working in American higher education, you were a suspect. Rather than keeping America safe, the China Initiative divided workplaces, ruined careers, and contributed to anti-Asian hate at the height of the pandemic.

The resulting chilling effect hampered American innovation by discouraging foreign talent from moving to American companies and disincentivizing Chinese researchers from accepting positions at our institutions of higher learning.

It is foolhardy to punish China by harming American innovation, but by discouraging researchers from working here, that is exactly what the Trump administration did with the China Initiative. Countries around the world send their best and brightest to the United States for education and to perform valuable research in our academic institutions.

Instead of welcoming their contributions to our economy and to our society, programs like the China Initiative encouraged them to take their training and their talents elsewhere.

We cannot quantify those missed opportunities. There is no way to know what inventions never came to be, but we can realize when we made a mistake and move on. This bill would prevent us from doing so.

Despite its well documented failures, reviving the China Initiative is a key plank of the ultraconservative Project 2025 agenda, the blueprint for a potential new Trump administration. Republicans cannot credibly argue that resurrecting this program is about keeping Americans and our business secrets safe because we know that racially profiling professors of Chinese descent was unsuccessful. It did, however, contribute to an us versus them mentality that divided Americans and heightened tensions across the country.

It is particularly disappointing that we are engaging in this partisan exercise because the fact is that Democrats and Republicans largely agree that China poses a threat to the United States. There are bipartisan bills ready for markup, ones that could pass on suspension today, but instead the majority has chosen to take up bills that divide us.

Since the end of the China Initiative, the DOJ has embraced a broader strategy to counter threats from hostile nations, not just China, but Iran, North Korea, and Russia. For example, the Disruptive Technology Strike Force has been lauded by both sides of the aisle for doing what the China Initiative failed to do. It collaborates across agencies to prevent nation-state actors from illicitly acquiring our most sensitive technology by successfully investigating and prosecuting illegal procurement networks.

We are on the right path to protecting our Nation's secrets and keeping Americans safe. This legislation would take us in the opposite direction.

I oppose this legislation. I encourage my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson), a member of the committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).

Mr. Chair, I have two comments before I call on the next speaker. Number one, I wouldn't count on the next Trump administration--maybe, but I wouldn't count on it.

Number two, during the Trump administration, anti-Asian crimes spiked, and as I recall, we passed an anti-Asian crimes bill, which was signed into law by President Biden.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey).

Mr. Chair, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, it has been said that figures don't lie but liars figure. The figures are very clear. Crime has gone down under the Biden administration. I don't care what anybody in this Chamber says. Those are the statistics. Consult the FBI and crime statistics. Crime has gone down every single year since the Biden administration took office. No one can debate that, at least no one can debate that if you believe the FBI statistics or any other statistics, unless you are getting your information from the Trump campaign or from Project 2025 or other less than honest sources.

Having said that, I urge the defeat of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Chairman, using fear and division for political benefit while pushing policies that hurt American innovation and American ideals is irresponsible and dangerous. However, that is exactly what we are doing here today.

The China Initiative was a divisive program that made Americans afraid of one another and produced zero benefits. Donald Trump and the MAGA movement had 4 years to come up with new policy solutions, but they decided to play politics instead.

Just last week, we learned that the Russian Government was paying conservative influencers in an attempt to manipulate our elections. We also know that they are not the only hostile foreign nation trying to do so.

We should be working to address that threat. We should be working to protect our elections. Instead, we are taking part in a partisan exercise that does nothing except take our eye off the ball to the real dangers to our people, our government, and our businesses.

There is so much we could do together. Under the Biden-Harris administration we enacted the bipartisan Chips and Science Act which has sparked tremendous investment in domestic manufacturing of computer chips crucial to national security. That is what actual leadership and that is what actual policy solutions look like. Unfortunately, Republicans have chosen the politics of division.

Instead of looking forward and developing new strategies for taking on the threats that face this Nation, the Republican majority wants to take us back to the failed policies of the past. The Chinese Government poses real threats, but this bill would do nothing to address them while setting back our efforts to take meaningful action.

The China Initiative failed to address any of the actual threats posed by the Chinese Government and only succeeded in ruining the careers of academics and scientists of Chinese descent while stifling American innovation.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, this amendment would add to the annual report a study on the impact of hacking and trade secret theft by the PRC on the United States economy.

If anything, this amendment highlights the magnitude of agreement between Republicans and Democrats on the danger from the Government of China to our economy and our security. I have no problem with the Department of Justice increasing its reporting to us. I, too, would like to know how hacking by PRC-affiliated groups impacts the United States economy.

For that matter, I would like to know how it impacts our elections and our national security, too. If this bill only consisted of its annual report section, we could all agree and move on. Agreement, however, is not a possibility under this partisan exercise.

The China Initiative is part of the Trump Project 2025 agenda not because of its potential for good bipartisan work, but, rather, when the China Initiative was an active program, it divided Americans and encouraged foreign scientists to leave our research labs.

This bill would do the same, and improving the reporting section unfortunately will not change that.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this amendment would require agencies to identify intellectual property theft of small businesses by the CCP. I have no concerns with adding this to the legislation, and I agree that it is important that we root out instances of intellectual property theft of small businesses.

Unfortunately, adding this provision to H.R. 1398 does not make small businesses any safer from IP theft by the Government of China. In fact, it puts them in even more danger.

Since the end of the China Initiative, the Department of Justice has implemented the Strategy for Countering Nation-State Threats and the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, which have been effective at rooting out economic espionage and trade theft by nation-states, including China.

The China Initiative was a total failure. Adding this well- intentioned amendment to Frankenstein's monster is not going to make this program less of a failure when we resurrect it.

Moreover, by requiring the DOJ to create a duplicate program and then attempting to impose limitations on the use of resources, this bill dilutes and ultimately reduces the ability of prosecutors and investigators to respond to the range of foreign threats faced by the United States.

Again, I support this amendment and the spirit with which it is offered, even though it would not improve the underlying bill.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment would require an analysis of the use of unmanned aircraft by the PRC, as well as related elements, such as communication links and components required to operate safely and efficiently in national airspace.

I appreciate that the gentleman from Florida is curious about spying by the PRC in the United States. I think we all are. As with all of these other amendments, even if, by themselves, they were a good or even just neutral idea, they cannot make the China Initiative redux any better. I have said this repeatedly throughout this process. We agree on the threat from the government of China, so what is the purpose of bringing up a bill that divides us?

I would also note that the investigation into the PRC's use of CUAS to spy on the United States is being conducted by multiple agencies, including the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and the

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, this amendment would require prosecutors to investigate investments made by Chinese companies and subsidiaries listed on the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List and the DOD's PRC Military Companies List.

Mr. Chair, I oppose this amendment primarily because the language here exemplifies the broader problem with

the entire legislation. By requiring an agency to investigate certain parties, the China Initiative did not give prosecutors leeway to prioritize cases or to choose where to expend resources. This all-or- nothing approach resulted in a culture of fear in research labs across America with few successful prosecutions to show for it.

This approach is what led to investigations of grant applications for paperwork errors. Rather than looking for the individuals seeking to commit trade crimes, the requirement to investigate relegated many DOJ prosecutors to the role of meter maids handing out parking tickets.

Mr. Chair, I am also opposed to this amendment because we already do something very similar. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States already looks at all pending Chinese investments into the United States.

This amendment would duplicate this work, causing a further strain on the limited resources available at the Department of Justice.

Finally, the language is unclear as to the limit of these investigations. This broad mandate for investigations into existing investments without any clear objective, again, could lead to the kind of overreach the original China Initiative suffered from.

Mr. Chair, I oppose this amendment and encourage my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 1398.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, H.R. 1398, the Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act focuses our attention on the single greatest threat to the American people: the Chinese Communist Party.

Our intelligence community has been raising these concerns for years, labeling China the defining threat of our generation. These concerns were also echoed in FBI Director Wray's testimony before our House Judiciary Committee back in July.

China's multipronged war against our people, economy, and infrastructure has caused the CCP to infiltrate our communities, sow disharmony, and steal our hard-earned successes. The CCP achieves this by aggressively targeting and recruiting civilians to spy on other Chinese nationals and to steal critical data from their employers.

Trade theft alone costs our economy over half a trillion dollars annually, with China behind most of it. This bill addresses this problem by creating a dedicated program under the DOJ called the CCP Initiative, prioritizing the focus on countering economic espionage.

The initiative establishes an enforcement strategy to protect critical sectors most vulnerable to the CCP's thievery: academic institutions, R&D labs, and the defense industrial base.

The rollback of the China Initiative left us lacking a dedicated approach and no oversight on issues of critical national interest. This bill fixes the administration's mistakes by adopting a clear, multifaceted approach. It builds a framework of multiagency cooperation and mutual consultation, ensuring that effective measures against our Nation's greatest threat are never compromised by an incompetent executive wing.

To ensure DOJ's cooperation and dedication of at least some resources in this area, an annual reporting requirement has been included that secures congressional oversight and involvement. The bill also requires no additional funding from Congress and has a negligible impact on the DOJ's current budget under the program.

I would like to underline that the worst affected by this rollback are people of Asian descent. People of Chinese origin in the United States, especially Chinese-American citizens, are identified and disproportionately targeted by the CCP for their schemes. The CCP ruthlessly targets and harasses people, especially those who refuse to bow down and are considered dissidents.

Letting this continue without a strong counter leaves our people extremely vulnerable to the CCP's cruelty, which emboldens China. Passing this bill will not only counter existing cases and deter new attempts to infiltrate our country but also signals that the CCP's days of targeting our communities are over.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of safeguarding our economy, our people, and our future against the greatest threat of our lifetimes. Join me in supporting H.R. 1398. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have heard a lot about the ruined lives of intellectuals and academics. I have also heard about the conviction rate. It is true there were only eight convictions, but one of the comments made was we should focus resources on actual problems.

What happened when we did that, when we took away this China Initiative and replaced it with nothing? In the last 2 years we have only had two convictions. Our Department of Justice has really failed to protect our domestic industry. It has really failed to protect those who have been preyed on by China, and the CCP Initiative serves to correct that.

Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to say first, the current DOJ, the Biden DOJ, performed their own review, and they found not a single case was handled or considered with bias or prejudice. They concluded that all decisions were borne out of genuine national security concerns. That is in response to this claim that lives have been ruined and that these were racist pursuits.

The other thing I want to say is this bill is race, gender, and nationality neutral. Investigations are conducted based on the factual reality of the situation.

Foreign nationals tend to favor recruiting people of their own origin, and that is especially so with the CCP. A full review by the current DOJ--again, this is the Biden DOJ--found not one case of bias or prejudice.

Everything we have heard today about all these racist pursuits were based in bad intentions, which was actually unfounded and proven incorrect by the current Biden DOJ. They said that there was not one single case of bias or prejudice.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would think the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus would want to stand against China with me, but I will do it alone on behalf of those who are willing to stand up against the Chinese Communist Party.

I denounce everything that has been said about this bill being racist. I absolutely denounce the false claims of racism. They are baseless.

I actually join with the Biden DOJ in saying that with the Trump prosecutions there was no bias, there was no racism. I actually would like to stand up for Chinese-American citizens that are being prosecuted, persecuted, searched after, and in some cases destroyed while some of our friends across the aisle do nothing. They get on the mike and say you guys are racist for pushing this legislation, and I think folks are tired of it. I really do.

I am really tired of seeing Chinese police stations in cities across our Nation. I am really tired of turning on the news and seeing that a spy in the New York Governor's office has been signing orders and doing all kinds of stuff in the name of the Chinese Communist Party. I am really tired of hearing stories about American citizens, Chinese- American citizens, living here--these are our people, these are our people--being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. That is what this bill seeks to do.

You can get up here and say this is racist and the last administration wasn't successful, but the facts are Republicans want to do something. We want to stand up to China, and we want to stand up for the Chinese-American citizens who in many cases are seeing their Representatives get on the microphone and say, you know what, we are not going to do anything. We are going to say that China is a threat, but we are not going to support any legislation that would do something about it.

I am really excited about this bill. I am even more excited about the Trump administration that is coming up because we are going to really go after China. Chinese Americans across the United States should really, really be excited about Donald Trump taking over as President because they will finally have an advocate in the White House after 4 years of being disregarded.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I am sorry that my colleagues are amused because Republicans are horrified. We are sickened by what China is doing to Chinese Americans. If the Asian Pacific American Caucus would love to put their sign up there while they denounce this fantastic bill, if they would like a member of their caucus who will fight for and on behalf of Chinese-American citizens, then I would be happy to join. Get me an application. However, until that happens, until all Members of this Chamber wake up and realize that China is the real threat here and realize that the main talking point, what they do as they come, and any time someone stands up against China, they start playing the race card because they know if they play the race card, they will get folks to shut up.

China just loves it. I am sure they are watching this debate in Beijing and laughing every time someone gets up and calls this policy racist. I am sure they are just loving it to see folks get up and talk about the China Initiative that the Biden DOJ so fantastically got rid of and what a success it was for China.

The Biden DOJ has even said since then that there was no bias and there was no racism.

So everything we are hearing today is just false. I am not going to call someone a liar, but I am going to tell you that what we are hearing today, Mr. Chair, is false. I heard from Mr. Nadler before he reserved a while ago. He said crimes against Asian Americans were up in the Trump era.

What person with a brain in America thinks that Donald Trump is the reason crime is up anywhere?

Joe Biden is the reason, and Kamala Harris is the reason that crime is through the roof in this Nation. Americans are unsafe.

Mr. Nadler said: I wouldn't count on a Trump victory.

Frankly, I am not going to count on anything in the days we live in, but I can count on the American people to not hold Donald Trump responsible for the crime epidemic that we are experiencing in this Nation.

I am baffled by the opposition to this bill and the silliness on the other side that insinuates Donald Trump as somehow behind some kind of crime spike. Give me a break. The American people know who is behind this crime, and they are going to watch her talk about it tonight. If she won't talk about it, then I hope Mr. President, Donald Trump, will, as I know all Americans believe he is the one to stand against this spike in crime that I am so happy Democrats acknowledge exist.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I will just say this: If you believe that crime is down under Joe Biden, then you probably believe the border is secure.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, fear and division is what the Chinese Communist Party hopes that we will become all about.

This bill seeks to stop China and the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to destroy this Nation. That is their ultimate goal. Every time a Member of Congress gets up and says that any effort to defeat China is a racist effort is really unfortunate.

However, I do believe that common sense will prevail. I do believe we will pass this tomorrow, and I want to thank everyone for their support.

This bill is an important tool. It is one of many tools we are passing this week.

We are spreading the word and sharing with the American people that Republicans are serious about standing up to China, that Donald Trump is serious about standing up to China. Despite the fact that we have taken the last 4 years off and let China climb ahead, and we have opened our borders and said send as many millions of folks that you want, I do believe the American people deserve better, and I think they will vote for better. We have let the crime rate spike, we have just let it happen, and it is a real shame.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleagues' consideration, I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, the amendment would require the annual report to Congress in this bill to include a description of the level and effectiveness of coordination and information sharing between government entities and private companies about economic espionage threats.

American companies and innovation have led the way for over a century, and the first line of defense to preventing economic espionage and intellectual property theft is the vigilance of the owners of this property. Including this information in the report will ensure that Congress can adequately oversee the CCP Initiative and ensure that it is meeting its objectives.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this amendment would require the annual report to Congress in this bill to include a description of the CCP's financial intelligence capabilities.

The CCP has decided that the fastest way to catch up to the technological leadership of the United States is to steal U.S. intellectual property. This theft is not only an economic issue but also a national security issue.

Technological success often leads to financial success. By engaging in financial intelligence activities, the CCP can ascertain which companies and entities have the most valuable intellectual property.

To appropriately counter the economic and national security threats posed by the CCP, we need to understand their ability to conduct financial intelligence activities.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee for the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), and I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden) for crafting this legislation that protects America's innovation and economic security from CCP activity.

I rise today in support of this bill, as well as to offer an amendment on behalf of Congressman Byron Donalds, my fellow Florida man.

This amendment would modify the underlying bill to include an analysis of the national security risks of the CCP's unmanned aircraft and associated elements in the national airspace system.

Chinese drones are accounting for about 70 percent of the global drone market and 90 percent of the U.S. drone market. Additionally, Chinese drones have actively been undercutting U.S. Government contracts and U.S. companies by at least 50 percent.

Federal, State, and local governments use these Chinese drones for activities that include highly sensitive information for evaluating critical infrastructure and military operations.

Data stored from Chinese drones are subject to Chinese cybersecurity law, which requires New York operators to store select data within China and allows Chinese authorities to receive critical data notification.

China also dominates in critical manufacturing parts, including the semiconductors and communications equipment that are found in almost every drone today.

China has been known to have the capabilities to track and affect flights of the CCP drones, which could become problematic even to American aircraft.

If you haven't picked it up yet, the Chinese drones are a major national and economic security risk to the United States. This amendment will provide a crucial analysis of CCP unmanned aircraft and associated elements in the national airspace system, which will enable the United States to craft solutions to defend ourselves from these national and economic risks.

Congressman Donalds is right to be concerned with the proliferation of Chinese drone technology and the security threats which they pose. I am proud to offer this amendment on behalf of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), and I urge all Members who want to protect America's innovation and economic security to join me in supporting it and the underlying legislation.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) for his support, endorsement, and also understanding that I hear what the gentleman is saying, but I say one thing: We must be reminded of the China Initiative established in 2018, which was eliminated by the Biden-Harris administration in February of 2022, where over $500 billion prior to that had been stolen by the Chinese CCP and the PRC.

I want to caution the fact that support for H.R. 1398 does, in fact, help us and is not considered to be an anti-Asian bill, as Members on the other side of the aisle tried to establish.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I thank, once again, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden), for yielding me the time and putting together this important bill, the Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of this legislation as well as to offer an amendment to it.

As has been noted, the annual cost of intellectual property theft is estimated to be around $500 billion annually. What are we doing about it?

The Trump administration created a program to counteract this espionage and prosecute individuals that were taking advantage of American ingenuity and innovation. However, the Biden-Harris administration canceled yet another program that was working.

It is ironic how this has happened so many times, Mr. Chairman. Trump policies at the border are keeping Americans safe; we better cancel them.

Trump policies are working to grow the economy and people's paychecks; we better cancel them.

Trump policies are promoting peace around the world. We can't have that.

Following the Biden-Harris shutdown of the Chinese Initiative, there were zero, I repeat, zero, new economic espionage cases that were opened in 2022. It reminds me of the progressive DAs in Democrat-run cities that have stopped prosecuting crimes and that are saying: Look, crime is down. You are safe with me now.

Well, we are not safe in this country, Mr. Chairman, nor are we safe from the threats abroad with the Biden-Harris administration.

My amendment is very straightforward. When the DOJ prosecutes bad actors linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and they certainly will, they are directed to share that information with the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce so they can update their blacklist and further protect American companies.

This includes down to the subsidiary level where CCP entities get caught trying to evade detection through corporate proxies. For example, we have seen, when the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, also called AVIC, and the China Airborne Missile Academy was placed on the DOD's Chinese military companies list. While the DOD and defense contractors are prohibited from acquiring materials from AVIC, equipment made by the sanctioned company continues to find its way into our defense supply chains through a subsidiary company and part of

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) sharing his concerns. I argue that whatever the 2018 China Initiative had actually rendered with regards to the amount of investigations or findings is still far better than what the Biden- Harris administration has done, where they have had zero, Mr. Chairman, since 2022, when they canceled this.

I also remind everyone that this is a simple thing for us. What are we asking for here? We are asking for the DOJ to do their job, to prosecute bad actors of the Chinese Communist Party, not something that seems unreasonable, and to direct the shared information to the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce.

Mr. Chair, if CFIUS works so well, then I would have argued that they would have blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel to allow us to have an actual advantage and control our resources and economic capabilities, but they don't.

That is why I offer this amendment in an area to ensure that those companies that have been blacklisted can no longer circumvent the system and that the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce are aware of the investigations that should be held by the Department of Justice.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment, which would require the Department of Justice's report, as mandated under this bill, to examine public-private sector coordination regarding economic espionage threats.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, there have been 224 documented cases of Chinese espionage directed at the United States since 2000, and that doesn't even count the more than 1,200 cases of intellectual property theft lawsuits brought by American companies against Chinese stakeholders. These tactics cost Americans billions, yes, billions with a b, each year.

Individuals tied to the Chinese Government have been caught spying on companies that are producing our Nation's critical infrastructure. In 2022, a Chinese national was convicted of spying while working as an engineer at General Electric. Back in 2024, the Department of Justice charged five Chinese military hackers for spying on U.S. Steel, Westinghouse Electric, and more.

From energy to consumer electronics to advanced technologies, CCP- backed individuals aim to steal secrets that give Chinese industry a leg up over American industry and undermine our country and economy.

This espionage is as much a national security threat as it is an economic issue. As a member of both the Intelligence and Financial Services Committees, I believe it is critical that the public and private sectors work together to detect, coordinate, and develop responses to espionage.

Private-sector companies are the hardest hit by this espionage, and they have been on the front lines of responding to breaches and hackers. We in the Federal Government have much to gain by coordinating with the private sector.

With this amendment, we are making it clear that protecting American innovation is a team effort. We need everyone, business leaders, the intelligence community, lawmakers, and researchers, working together to stop economic espionage, maintain America's economic leadership, and guarantee our national security.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment, which would require the Department of Justice report, as mandated under this bill, to examine the Chinese Communist Party's financial intelligence capabilities and, more broadly, the role of China's intelligence agencies and economic espionage.

Let me start by outlining the scope of the problem. China is the main source of economic espionage against the United States. About 80 percent of the economic espionage cases that the Department of Justice prosecutes involve China and its affiliates. Anything that we can do to monitor the Chinese intelligence ecosystem will help in our fight to stop economic espionage here at home.

As a member of the House Committee on Financial Services and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am keenly aware of the public-private sector fusion in China. Because of its 2017 intelligence law, the CCP and Chinese intelligence agencies have disproportionate power over the country's industry. As we have seen with TikTok, industry and government are working in concert, at the direction and funding of the CCP, to undermine our country.

Chinese intelligence agencies are the linchpin to understand the coordinated campaign to steal and profit from American trade secrets. That is precisely why I have offered my amendment. We need the United States Federal Government to monitor these agencies' role in economic espionage.

Maintaining America's economic competitiveness is something that we can all agree on. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this amendment so that we can get a fuller picture of Chinese intelligence agencies' role in economic espionage and actually stop them in the process.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I thank Mr. Gooden for the support of these two amendments, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, you pronounced my name better than my own grandmother.

Mr. Chair, the underlying bill, the Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2024, importantly counters the Chinese Communist Party's illegal and grossly unethical practice of stealing trade secrets, economic espionage, and hacking against American companies.

The bill does this, as we note, by establishing a special office at the Department of Justice whose sole purpose is to identify and prosecute those who engage in this illegal behavior. The office will also work to protect critical infrastructure in the United States against external threats from China.

The bill also requires a report from the Attorney General to Congress. My amendment includes in this report an assessment of the economic loss to the United States as a result of hacking and trade secret theft by China.

We currently don't have an accurate number as to how much economic damage the Chinese Communist Party has caused the United States through economic espionage, hacking, and intellectual property theft. My amendment will allow us to quantify the true monetary toll China is causing to our economy and our businesses and allow us to

see how impactful this underlying legislation really is.

The United States is the biggest economy in the world because we encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. China doesn't and instead relies on stealing our innovations, our ideas, for their benefit. This amendment will highlight just how damaging China is to our economy.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleague's support of my amendment. I look forward to bipartisan support of the bill in chief, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, my amendment at the desk adds a requirement to the bill in chief that the Department of Justice identifies all cases of intellectual property theft of American small businesses by the Chinese Communist Party. Even in upstate New York, we have businesses that have reported firsthand how their innovations have been completely stolen by the Chinese Communist Party.

Now, just because China doesn't believe in capitalism doesn't mean they can steal our Nation's best and brightest ideas and the hard work of good Americans, all of this created through the opportunities of capitalism and what capitalism provides.

This amendment will help us better understand the true scope to which China is harming our small businesses and our economy and will provide us with information needed to best target the criminal actors behind these cowardly crimes.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleague's full-throated endorsement of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.