Political Quotes

“Today I rise in opposition to the partisan H.R. 1398. Unfortunately, this new ``CCP initiative'' that this bill creates is simply a knockoff version of the China Initiative created by Donald Trump which was notorious for racially profiling researchers of Asian descent. Of the individuals charged under that initiative, the vast majority of cases did not result in a finding of guilt. The lives of far too many of those charged but not convicted of a crime were ruined simply because they were ``researching while Chinese.'' The China Initiative was not only weak, it was pernicious and wrong. The current administration shut down the China Initiative and in its place stood up a new task force which has effectively cracked down, among other things, crimes involving CCP's theft of U.S. AI and missile detection technology. Another way we can protect our security is to pass the bipartisan, bicameral international trade crimes bill that I introduced alongside my colleagues on the Select Committee on the CCP. This bill creates a new unit at Department of Justice to criminally prosecute trade crimes committed by the CCP and others which seriously harm our innovators, companies, and workers. It is essential that we confront the CCP's economic threat. There is a legitimate competition that we must win against the CCP, but H.R. 1398 does not take the initiative in doing so. Mr. Chair, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on 1398.”