National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

The ramifications of this amendment could be dangerous and far- reaching. Quite frankly, we should not be looking outside of the United States for such scientists and researchers. We should cultivate our own talent. Unfortunately, this bill does nothing to develop that talent.

We must ask, which foreign nationals would be eligible for the program? Most likely, those from China.

China is so intent on using our U.S. immigration system to steal our sensitive technologies that the Trump administration had to issue a proclamation suspending entry of certain Chinese students and researchers.

The Trump administration proclamation stated: ``The People's Republic of China is engaged in a wide-ranging and heavily resourced campaign to acquire sensitive United States technologies . . . to bolster the modernization and capability of its military.''

The proclamation went on to state that ``students or researchers from the PRC studying beyond the undergraduate level . . . are at high risk of being exploited or co-opted by the PRC.''

Because of the brutal nature of the Chinese Communist Party, the same is true for virtually any Chinese national who comes to the United States to study or research, or to otherwise work in sensitive technologies like those contemplated under this amendment.

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security told us last year that the Chinese government requires its nationals to ``support, assist, and cooperate with State intelligence work.''

The idea for this amendment came, at least in part, from the Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which called for ``increasing China brain drain.'' So clearly, the green cards contemplated under this amendment would go to Chinese nationals.

The last thing we should do is make it easy for the Chinese Communist Party to gain access to our National Security Innovation Base work, Department of Defense research, or other critical technologies.

I would also note that, sadly, the Department of Defense does not have a great track record regarding immigrant programs. Many of you may remember that the Department of Defense supported and encouraged the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program through which foreign nationals were able to enlist in the U.S. military. Once enlisted, they were eligible to naturalize.

The Department of Defense was not living up to its promise to adequately vet and perform high-level background checks on the MAVNI participants. The program was halted by the Obama administration when it was discovered that the Department had allowed some Chinese spies to enlist in the military.

Let that sink in. The Department of Defense let Chinese spies enlist in the U.S. military. So I am not comfortable with several aspects of the program created by this amendment. I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, so once again, we hear that this will be a small number of people that are coming in. All we have to do is look at our southern border and other places for hearing about how small numbers of people are going to come into our country.

We also hear, trust the Secretary of Defense. As I cited in my opening remarks, we had a real problem with the MAVNI program, where the Obama administration discovered Chinese spies in our military. This is a serious, serious situation.

And here is the thing that I find frustrating, Mr. Speaker. We have so many people that project our freedoms and how we view them on other countries, including China, that they treat their people the same way. They simply do not, and it is fully proven that the Chinese Communist Party demands complete fealty of anyone, whether they are in China, or they come to our country to go back and give all information to the Chinese Communist Party. They do not protect intellectual property rights, which are a foundation of our freedoms here in America. We should not be sanguine about what this amendment will do.
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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this amendment, and I thank the gentleman from Alabama for the time.

The amendment I speak of comes after many years of experiencing well- documented U.S. Navy maintenance backlogs and deficiencies and much- needed naval upgrades. These backlogs and deficiencies seriously inhibit our force-in-readiness and operational capabilities.

Our military needs to be the readiest it can be in order to meet the challenges of the future, and this amendment will help do that.

Shipyards across the country are ready, willing, and able to support the maintenance and upgrade requirements needed by our naval assets, including one in Superior, Wisconsin, in my congressional district.

These non-homeport shipyards can support vital surge capacity, addressing maintenance needs that cannot always be addressed in a timely fashion at homeports. This change will also support good family- wage jobs across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to have worked with Representative Stauber just across the border on this amendment. It is so important. By utilizing those people who work in the twin ports of Superior and Duluth, with their exceptional workmanship that they provide for shipbuilding on the Great Lakes, I think this makes this amendment very worthy.

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