Press Releases

WASHINGTON—Today, Republican Study Committee Chairman and Armed Services Committee Member Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced several pieces of legislation to counter the Chinese Communist Party.

Rep. Banks will be joined by several Republican Study Committee members who are introducing a flurry of legislation this week to push back against the Chinese Communist Party and secure American from foreign threats. The Republican Study Committee also released a memo on countering China.

Rep. Banks was a member of the House China Task Force in the 116^th Congress.

“The greatest threat to American freedom and justice is the Chinese Communist Party, which is why I’m proud to advance these five pieces of legislation to protect America’s interests from Beijing,” said Banks. “China is our foremost military adversary, but it also seeks to infiltrate our economy, universities, digital infrastructure and intelligence agencies. Congress should be focused on safeguarding each of these American institutions from the Chinese regime.

Bill List:

• “Stop Funding the PLA Act”
• Prevents U.S. investments from flowing to China’s military industrial base by requiring a Treasury Department-led effort to produce a list of PLA-linked companies in which American U.S. individuals, entities, companies, banks and financial institutions cannot invest.
• “Placing restrictions on acquisitions by the People’s Republic of China”
• Empowers the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) – the body responsible for reviewing national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations – to prevent predatory investments of American companies by the Chinese government.

• “Online Consumer Protection Act”
• Prohibits the download of an application or software from a country that poses a national security risk to the United States without first acknowledging a warning about the application or software’s source nation.
•  “Safe Career Transitions for Intelligence and National Security Professionals Act”
• Restricts the ability of national security professionals to work for certain foreign-government backed organizations for five years after a position which required a security clearance. 

• “Protect Our Universities Act”
• Prevents foreign espionage against our country’s most sensitive academic research by requiring the Department of Education to create and lead an interagency task force and requires that students from adversarial nations to apply for a waiver granted by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to participate in sensitive research projects funded by the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Department of Energy.