Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act

Mr. Speaker, today we are bringing to the floor a very important bill, the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act.

Our country's determination and commitment to achieving what was once thought impossible has led to some of the most incredible technological advances in the history of the world. Consequently, many of the world's very best and most advanced goods are made right here in the United States of America. However, the reality is that it is hard to keep good things to yourself, and nations across the world want to benefit from American goods themselves.

As a general principle, we are happy to export the fruits of our labor because international trade is an important part of any successful and vibrant economy, especially for a country like the United States, but the harsh reality is that not every country who wants access to our goods and materials is friendly to the United States. Malign actors like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran would gladly seek to use our very own goods and technologies against us, whether in military engagements or on the economic battlefield.

The type of goods I am speaking about are not just overtly military hardware, like night vision goggles, tanks, or stealth technology. These bad actors are constantly thinking of new creative ways to use anything and everything against us, making everyday commercial items produced right here in the United States ripe to be weaponized against the American people.

One example would be telecommunications equipment. Anything from routers to cell phones to Bluetooth technology are generally thought of as harmless commercial goods, but they all have huge national security and military implications as well, especially in the hands of our adversaries. These so-called dual-use technologies are the type of goods that our current export controls attempt to prevent from falling into the hands of malign actors.

My bill, the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, seeks to ensure increased transparency and accountability in the export control process by mandating a report on export control license applications.

Simply put, my bill creates a mechanism through tracking and reporting on export control license applications that can be utilized to form a paper trail to understand where dual-use technologies came from, who produced them, and whom they were sold to.

If our enemies are utilizing American technology against us, we need to know exactly how that happened and why. Further, my bill will provide some clarity to Congress on how these decisions are made.

Every 90 days, the House and the Senate would receive a report on export control license applications, gaining insight into where our American-made dual-use technologies are going abroad.

I want nothing more than for the American economy to be strong, open, and free, and international trade is a crucial part of that vision. Ultimately, our own free market cannot also be used as a source of our own downfall by allowing our adversaries to use our goods and technologies against us.

My bill ensures accountability and trackability when we send dual-use goods abroad.

In these increasingly dangerous times, there is a need for strong export controls with adequate oversight, which is why my bill passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a vote of 43-0. I thank Chairman McCaul for his cosponsorship of the legislation and Ranking Member Meeks for supporting this legislation in our committee. I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, as it is necessary for our national security.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6614, as amended, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the bill calls for more transparency around license application decisions by the Bureau of Industry and Security for potential exports to entities on its Entity and Military End Users Lists. Inclusion in these lists means that the export, re-export, and transfer of certain U.S. items to these entities requires a license.

This bill would enable Congress to conduct oversight to ensure that the BIS licensing and enforcement processes are working properly and effectively.

I thank Mr. Jackson and Chairman McCaul for working with Ranking Member Meeks to reach a bipartisan agreement on this bill, which will ensure that the committee is getting the information it needs while protecting business proprietary information and allowing BIS to effectively execute its core national security mandate.

As we add to the list of things we are asking BIS to do, it is also important that we equip BIS with the resources and staffing to meet those requirements. We are asking BIS to take on more responsibility with less.

BIS desperately needs to update its outdated and inefficient IT system, which has not been updated in over 15 years. In that time, the number of license applications BIS receives per year has more than doubled to over 40,000 per year.

As a result, simple data requests such as compiling license application information for Congress can be lengthy and often involve painstaking manual review of materials.

Let me repeat: We are adding more burden to BIS without giving them the resources they so desperately need.

Representative Crow and Ranking Member Meeks have worked on a bill to fund IT modernization for BIS, and I sincerely hope that as we pass bills like this one offered by Mr. Jackson, we also live up to our responsibility to actually equip BIS to do its important work and give them the resources they so desperately need.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, transparency is critical for effective congressional oversight, and Mr. Jackson's bill will allow Congress greater insight into the license application decisions and enforcement actions taken by the Bureau of Industry and Security.

The bill reflects the critical national security role that BIS and our export controls play in today's world, but placing greater burdens on BIS while failing to provide the necessary funding to update the 15- year-old equipment it uses is only doing half the job.

Therefore, it is important that Congress provide BIS with the resources and technology necessary to effectively implement this bill and advance its core mandate. I, therefore, encourage my colleagues to work with the urgency required to help us address the resource issue.

With that in mind, I hope my colleagues will join me and support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6614) to amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 relating to licensing transparency, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, introduced by my colleague from Texas (Mr. Jackson) along with Foreign Affairs Chairman McCaul.

Export controls are one of the most powerful tools we have to constrain China's military modernization and rebuke its severe human rights abuses.

Ultimately, the strength of our export control regime hinges on the ability to approve or deny a license to sell sensitive technology to China. That process is overseen by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS.

On multiple occasions, in response to persistent committee requests, BIS has provided the House Foreign Affairs Committee with licensing data--information on whether BIS approved or denied licenses to China.

The committee found that even for companies like SMIC and Huawei with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party and military, BIS rarely, if ever, denied a license.

This data has been essential to our committee's oversight efforts. This bill will ensure better oversight of the Commerce Department's export control policies and licensing practices.

Every 90 days, the Secretary of Commerce will submit a report to Congress on activities related to items affected by export control policies, including licenses granted to foreign persons and entities on the entity list.

This bill will finally give Congress the visibility it needs to conduct real oversight on licensing decisions and will help us assess where and how BIS is drawing the line on U.S. national security.

At the Foreign Affairs Committee markup, H.R. 6614 was adopted by a unanimous bipartisan vote of 43-0.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Jackson), a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the author of this bill.

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

I thank Chairman McCaul for his leadership in moving this bill through committee and to the floor. I also thank my bipartisan committee colleagues for their unanimous vote to ensure greater congressional oversight of export controls.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. 6614, and I yield back the balance of my time.