Press Releases

WASHINGTON—Democrats on the House Rules Committee blocked two amendments offered by Rep. Jim Banks to the so-called America COMPETES Act but allowed a vote on the third amendment that was subsequently added to the bill.

Reacting to his first two amendments being blocked, Banks said: “Either Democrats don’t take the China threat seriously or they are complicit. There’s no other way to explain why they blocked even a vote on my amendments that would stop China from taking advantage of us.”

Banks also commented on the passage of his third amendment: “I am glad, however, that my colleagues agree we need to hold the Biden administration accountable for its failure to enforce our sanctions laws. In 2021, Congress passed a law with bipartisan support to stop companies from using Uyghur slave labor, but the Biden administration has been dragging their feet on implementing it. It’s time they start enforcing this law and punish those complicit in China’s genocide of the Uyghur people.”

Rep. Banks remains strongly opposed to the rest of Pelosi’s so-called “China bill.” As he told his colleagues in a memo earlier this week, Banks believes the COMPETES Act is so harmful to the United States that it seems to have been written to help China. Some of the most concerning provisions include:

• Wastes $8 billion of taxpayer dollars by sending it to the UN Green Climate Fund
• Furthers Democrats’ woke agenda by spending $5 million to create a Chief Diversity Officer at the National Science Foundation
• So focused on green pet projects that it references “coral reefs” more than the word “China”

More background:

The amendment that passed:

• Amendment requiring a determination of which Chinese companies meet the criteria for Sanctions under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: This amendment requires the Treasury Department to determine whether companies still using Uyghur slave labor should be sanctioned under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

The two amendments Democrats blocked:

• Amendment substituting the language of the Countering Communist China Act: This amendment would replace the language of the America COMPETES Act with a bill proposed by Rep. Jim Banks that would actually take on the China threat by punishing China for stealing our intellectual property, bolstering our national defense in the Indo-Pacific and targeting China’s malign activity right here in the U.S.

• Amendment requiring sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department: This amendment would target the arm of the Chinese Communist Party that operates within the United States to subvert our institutions and steal our intellectual property.

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