Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, known as the FACT Act. I introduced this bill in January, and I have been pleased to see it advance through committee and now onto the House floor.

First, I thank Chairman Guthrie, Chairman Hudson, and the entire Energy and Commerce Committee for advancing this bill, and Leader Scalise for bringing it to the floor today. Additionally, Representatives Stefanik, Kean, Castor, and Khanna have been strong partners in garnering support for this legislation as cosponsors. I also thank my staff as well as those fellow cosponsors on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in leadership for their diligent work on this important bill.

I also applaud the administration for taking the CCP's threat to our national security seriously. Communist China is using every tool at its disposal to conduct a coordinated campaign to surveil and collect information on Americans. We should all be deeply concerned about that. China is not our friend.

China looks to defeat us both economically and strategically. This is one of many means that they are using to accomplish that. They are infiltrating our telecommunications networks and technology sectors for the sole purpose of doing harm to the United States and its friends. Despite this clear threat, far too many companies with ties to the CCP and other foreign adversaries still hold authorities to operate in the United States, often without the public's knowledge. That is absolutely unacceptable.

While companies like Huawei and ZTE are well known, others controlled by the CCP continue to fly under the radar. They are doing this purposely. They are creating entities that are third- and fourth-order separates from these main organizations to be able to obfuscate those connections back to the CCP.

That is where the bipartisan FACT Act comes in. It would require the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of these companies that hold FCC authorizations and have any ownership by foreign adversarial governments, including our adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

This transparency is critical. Americans deserve to know which companies inside our tech and telecommunications markets are linked to hostile regimes. Shining a light on this malign influence is the first step toward a stronger action to defend our communications infrastructure and our national security.

We know what these threats are. We have seen them develop. We have seen them accelerate. We have seen what China's intent is. The FACT Act will mark real, bipartisan progress in achieving these efforts. It is a necessary step to protect Americans from surveillance and infiltration by foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation, and I look forward to continuing to work together to defend American sovereignty and security.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 906, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act. At the end of last year, we learned that Salt Typhoon, a cyber espionage operation backed by the Chinese Communist Party, infiltrated several American telecommunications networks to gain access to detailed information on former Vice President Harris and other political figures, as well as access American surveillance information.

This is extremely disturbing and a stark reminder of the lengths to which foreign adversary countries will go to use our media and communications networks to disrupt and divide us, weakening our economy for their own benefit. Whether it is through communications equipment, the networks themselves, or social media, we have seen these operations time and time again, which is why we must stay vigilant to minimize these risks or avoid them altogether.

Fortunately, today, we are taking additional action to address these and future threats. H.R. 906 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 authorizations, 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.

This bill is particularly important since we know our communications networks carry Americans' most sensitive personal and government data on a daily basis, so we must have a clear understanding if any foreign adversary countries or the companies operating within those countries are investors in our networks.

With this bill, we continue to secure our communications networks, protect Americans and their personal data, and help better protect our allies as they, too, rely on our global undersea cable network for broadband services.

I thank Representatives Castor, Khanna, Wittman, and Kean for their bipartisan work and leadership on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 906, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), a great leader on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I strongly urge that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support H.R. 906, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act for the security of our Nation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 906) 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.

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 this particular bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 906, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, led by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman), my good friend.

Entities with ties to our adversaries--China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea--are threats to our communications networks, unfortunately, but it is a reality.

This legislation requires the FCC to publish a list of those entities holding a license, authorization, or other authority granted by the FCC. Understanding which adversaries are in our networks and the threats they pose, is necessary to securing our networks.

I thank Representative Wittman, a great Member, for his leadership on this bill, which passed last Congress by voice vote, and I urge my colleagues to support this very important and necessary bill. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman), the sponsor of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I commend Representative Wittman and Representative Castor for their good work on this particular bill, and I urge passage. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Dingell for yielding the time, and I thank Chairman Bilirakis for moving the bill forward to the floor today.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 906, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act. This bill would require the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, to publish a public list of entities with ties to foreign adversarial governments, such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, especially if they have a license or authorization that is tied to our communications networks.

Along with Representative Wittman, I serve on the bipartisan Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. Last Congress, the committee released a bipartisan report on maintaining America's economic and national security interests. The report found that the widespread adoption of certain People's Republic of China-developed technologies in the United States poses a significant risk to national security and threatens long-term U.S. technological competitiveness.

Our committee report recommended that we enact the FACT Act to shine a light on companies connected to foreign adversarial governments like the CCP and to ensure greater accountability and transparency in our critical communications networks.

Our bill passed the House unanimously by voice vote in the last Congress, but it didn't quite get over the finish line. We really have no more time to wait, Mr. Speaker. Our adversaries continue to target our communications systems, so Congress must take steps now to protect our communications, telecommunications infrastructure and strengthen our national security to keep Americans safe. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the bill.