Dusty Johnson: “Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party does not play fair. That is why this bill, the Federal Maritime Commission…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party does not play fair. That is why this bill, the Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act of 2025, is so important. I suspect we all know that ocean-linked supply chains are critical to the economic competitiveness of the United States. Think about all the important materials we import into this country, and then think about all the important materials we export. Even just for relatively small South Dakota, Mr. Speaker, we export $7 billion of manufactured goods and agricultural goods to the rest of the world every single year. That is almost $8,000 a year for every single South Dakotan. Clearly, this maritime trade is important. Because the Chinese Communist Party doesn't play fair, we need a focused and effective cop on the beat. We need someone who will be focused on the anticompetitive behavior from the Chinese Communist Party and others. The five largest ocean carriers and their coalitions, Mr. Speaker, control 80 or 85 percent of the ocean carrier business. We want to make sure that anticompetitive behavior does not take place. This legislation has at least a couple of major thrusts that are going to make that so.”