Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. America Competes Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for yielding.

Madam Speaker, last month, the House passed the COMPETES Act, better known as the concedes act, which was forced through this Chamber in a partisan fashion and lacked the policies needed to truly bolster our scientific infrastructure and combat threats from our foreign adversaries.

The hard work and the bipartisan collaboration of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee were left in the wake of partisan politics.

The House-passed concedes act let China off the hook very simply for failing to contain COVID-19. It failed to ban funding to CCP-tied organizations. It failed to punish the CCP for its blatant human rights abuses. It failed to strengthen America's competitive edge over China.

Today, we have the opportunity to instruct conferees to bolster the language and actually stand up against Communist China.

That is why I support this motion to instruct. It will ensure that no entities identified as Chinese military companies operating in the United States are eligible to receive funds through the new technology directorate, the supply chain resiliency program that we set up through Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

We must put a stop to Communist China spreading misinformation, stealing our technology, and bolstering its economic advantages while weakening ours. The FBI and intelligence agencies have continually warned Congress about these same threats from Communist China.

China's investment in development, and not in basic research, implies that they are building their technological success on the backs of U.S.-funded basic research.

We have even seen the infiltration of Chinese influence in our university systems and academia on several different occasions at the top institutions of America. We must work to ensure that China cannot undermine our open system of research and development.

This time, let's support scientific discovery, advance American technology, and hold our foreign adversaries accountable, and let's not waste the American people's time again.

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