McCaul Opposes “Superficial, Partisan” and “Immoral” COMPETES Act
Washington, D.C.- House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republicans Michael McCaul spoke on the House floor against COMPETES Act. This legislation is a foreign policy failure that funnels $8B worth of taxpayer dollars into an unaccountable UN slush fund without taking any meaningful steps to address significant risks facing our national security.
“[T]his legislation could send U.S. taxpayer money to fund green energy projects built on the CCP’s genocide against its own people. To fund their slave labor. To prop up their forced abortions… Mr. Speaker, this is a moral issue. It’s the test of our time. If we allow this legislation to pass, we will be on the wrong side of history. We will be helping the CCP to build the future of global energy on a foundation of slave labor and genocide.”
-Remarks as Delivered-
“Mr. Speaker. Last year, the CCP’s hypersonic weapons program successfully launched a missile that traveled all the way around the world.
That program was built on the backbone of U.S. technology.
And, as we speak, the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against their own people.
Women are forced to abort their children. Families are ripped apart.
And all the while, American IP is being used to build the CCP’s police state.
To help the CCP surveil and imprison the ethnic and religious minorities they torture.
A substantive bill to counter the CCP isn’t just a national security issue. It’s a moral issue.
That’s why any serious legislation must include export controls to keep U.S. technology out of the hands of the CCP’s military and surveillance state.
The stakes could not be higher and the outcome hinges on a technological race.
Unfortunately, this bill takes no meaningful step to address this significant risk to U.S. national security.
Instead, it’s a trojan horse – being used to inject eight billion dollars worth of taxpayer money into an unaccountable UN slush fund.
That’s more than double the amount of money authorized for actual foreign policy programs.
This UN slush fund has already provided at least 100 million dollars directly to China. U.S. taxpayer dollars.
To a country that this Congress; that the former Republican president; and that the current Democrat president have all agreed is committing genocide.
To a country that even Secretary Kerry has admitted is using slave labor to make green energy products, like solar panels and batteries.
And for some unknown reason, Democrats rejected Republican efforts to guarantee the CCP couldn’t access U.S. taxpayer money in this bill.
Even worse, this legislation could send U.S. taxpayer money to fund green energy projects built on the CCP’s genocide against its own people.
To fund their slave labor. To prop up their forced abortions.
Shockingly, Republicans attempted to stop this from happening – to stop U.S. taxpayers from funding slave labor. But we were outright rejected by the Democrats.
Mr. Speaker, this is a moral issue. It’s the test of our time.
If we allow this legislation to pass, we will be on the wrong side of history.
We will be helping the CCP to build the future of global energy on a foundation of slave labor and genocide.
Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today angry and disappointed.
This bill could have been the bipartisan crowning achievement of this Congress.
We could have worked together.
We could have showed the American people that – when it comes to the generational threat posed by the CCP – Republicans and Democrats can put U.S. interests over special interests.
That we could put national security over party politics.
That we can put morality over money.
Instead, the Gentlelady from California hijacked this legislation that was bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and threw together this legislation she knew well contained provisions that Republicans won’t stand for.
In other words, she chose to turn this into a partisan political stunt.
And she did it in secret, behind the backs of the Republicans, while many of us were still negotiating with our Democrat counterparts in good faith to find a bipartisan agreement.
Mr. Speaker, the CCP is the most significant economic and national security threat the United States faces.
The American people deserved better than this superficial, partisan response.
I urge my colleagues to vote NO on this immoral bill, and to stand with me against genocide.
I yield back.”
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