Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1157, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. There is strong bipartisan support in Congress for the Countering the People's Republic of China's Malign Influence Fund because it is the primary pool of funding for USAID and State Department projects to compete with China on the global stage. Given this bipartisan consensus on the importance of the fund, I had hoped we could engage in a bipartisan process for this bill. Instead, most of our recommended changes to the bill were not accepted when this bill was rushed to a markup at the very start of this Congress. When offered an amendment to increase the fund's authorization from $325 million to $400 million per year--the same amount requested by the Biden-Harris administration--every Republican on our committee, unfortunately, voted against it. Is that being tough on China? I don't think so. In briefing after briefing, our committee has learned that the administration is laser-focused on addressing the China challenge and is utilizing the funds effectively to counter PRC disinformation, build resilience against the PRC's malign influence, and provide nations around the world with alternatives to China's extractive development framework. The administration is doing this work, and they are doing it very well. {time} 1730 As drafted, I believe H.R. 1157 could constrain the State Department and USAID in competing effectively.…”