August Pfluger: “I thank the chair for bringing this bill to the floor, H.R. 1516, the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and…”

“I thank the chair for bringing this bill to the floor, H.R. 1516, the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act. Members have to ask ourselves: Why are we here? I will point back to last Congress, in the 117th Congress, where we had H.R. 7779, which was a bill that we actually worked together on in the Committee on Homeland Security, under the chairman, my friend from Mississippi. It was never actually brought to the floor. I am not sure why it wasn't brought to the floor. That is why we are here today, because we are serious about protecting our country. In the NDAA, it went to the Rules Committee, and they voted it down. That is why we are here. We are here because we didn't get a chance to actually get serious about our Nation's most serious threat, the Chinese Communist Party, which is using every tool at their disposal to undermine our interests by using malign activity. For years, they have done this in conjunction with the People's Liberation Army. They have exploited the open and collaborative nature of our society of academia to conduct widespread industrial and military espionage inside the United States. Starting in 2004, various academic institutions across the country organized Confucius Institutes as a way to promote Chinese language and culture, to support Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges on campus.…”