Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 820, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act.

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted two Russian nationals over payments made to several extreme rightwing American influencers in an attempt to tip the scales in our Nation's upcoming elections. This is an extremely disturbing and stark reminder of the length that foreign adversary countries will go to use our media and communications networks to disrupt and divide us, weakening our country for their own benefit.

Whether it is through social media, equipment, or the communications networks itself, we have seen these operations time and time again, which is why we must stay vigilant to minimize these risks or avoid them all together.

Today, we are taking additional action to stay ahead of these risks. H.R. 820 will shed some light on the investments of foreign adversaries in our country's communications networks.

Every day these networks carry Americans' most sensitive personal data. We must have a clear understanding if any foreign adversary countries, or the companies operating within those countries, are investors in our communications networks.

This is critically important because, unfortunately, we have too often seen foreign adversary governments or those beholden to them target these networks and the devices and applications running on top of them as a way to disrupt our daily lives or to conduct espionage campaigns.

Any communications network with ties to China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran magnifies this target and endangers our national security interests.

H.R. 820 helps address these concerns. This bipartisan bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list within 4 months indicating any entities with ties to China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran that hold wireless and undersea cable licenses that power our country's mobile and fixed communications networks.

The bill would also require the FCC to issue rules in 18 months to help it attain foreign ownership information for the remaining authorization, licenses, and grants that the agency issues. The FCC would then publish on its list any additional entities with ties to China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran no later than 1 year after the new rules are adopted. The FCC would also need to update this entity list annually.

With this bill, we continue to secure our communications networks and protect Americans from rogue nation-states seeking to use our networks against us. This bill will also help us better protect our allies as they too rely on our global undersea cable network for broadband services.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 820, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I, again, urge support for this important legislation to protect us on a bipartisan basis, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 820) to direct the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of entities that hold authorizations, licenses, or other grants of authority issued by the Commission and that have certain foreign ownership, and for other purposes, 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 insert extraneous material in the record on the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 820, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, led by the gentlewoman from New York's 21st District.

The Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries present security threats to our critical infrastructure. Entities with ties to these countries could be called upon to support and assist their national intelligence work, jeopardizing the security of American data and communications networks. As a result, the presence of their equipment in our networks pose a significant threat to our national security.

Over the years, Congress has worked to address these threats from passing legislation to rip-and-replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from our networks by encouraging TikTok to divest from its CCP-controlled parent company, ByteDance. We must build on this work by bringing transparency into the ways our foreign adversaries operate in our networks.

This legislation requires the FCC to annually publish a list of entities with ties to our adversaries, Communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, that hold a license, authorization, or other authority granted by the FCC.

Understanding which adversaries are present in our communications networks as well as the threat they pose is necessary to strengthen our networks.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York's 21st District for her leadership on this bill and the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee for her leadership moving this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 820, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Stefanik), the bill's sponsor.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation came out of the Energy and Commerce Committee 44-0. It shows how important this legislation is, and I urge support of H.R. 820.

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, I rise today in support of bipartisan legislation, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency or FACT Act.

I will thank again our Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Chairman Latta, Ranking Member Pallone, and the entire committee for their support.

Additionally, I will take the time to thank the previous chair of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Mike Gallagher; the current chair, Chairman John Moolenaar; and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi for their work this Congress in advancing public awareness of the dire threat that Communist China poses to America's prosperity and passing critical legislation to counter that critical threat.

Communist China is using every tool at its disposal to conduct a coordinated campaign to surveil and collect information on Americans. One of the ways that the CCP is doing this is through infiltrating our telecommunications and technology markets.

Despite this clear and present threat posed by Communist Chinese- controlled telecommunications company, many still maintain authorities to operate in the United States. Even worse, while some CCP-controlled companies like Huawei and ZTE have been publicly identified, there are other Communist Chinese telecom and tech companies that have not yet drawn public scrutiny.

My bipartisan FACT Act will provide much-needed transparency into the level of Communist China's infiltration into our technology sector.

The FACT Act will require the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of companies who both hold FCC authorizations and have any ownership by foreign adversarial governments, including China, Russia, Iran, and others.

This public disclosure will help to shine a light on the malign access and influence Communist Chinese companies have inside our tech and telecom markets. We cannot allow companies controlled by the CCP or other foreign adversaries to have unfettered and unknown access to our telecommunications infrastructure.

This legislation will give Americans much-needed transparency and will pave the way for future action to counter these adversarial-owned listed companies.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan bill to counter the influence of Communist China and other foreign adversaries on America's telecommunications infrastructure.

Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Madam President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading.

Madam President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.