Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 11, Establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

As a member of the China Task Force in the 116th and 117th Congresses and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, this committee is long overdue, and I commend Speaker McCarthy for putting this together. A clear and dedicated focus on issues surrounding the strategic competition between the United States and China has never been more important.

I would make three observations.

One, make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker, China has a plan to replace us, and they are working on it every single day in technology, national security, and in economics. The longer we go without addressing those issues, the further we fall behind.

Number two, look at the allies that Xi Jinping and the CCP align themselves with, Putin in Russia, who is a war criminal, and Iran. You talk about the unbreakable bond they have with Russia as it relates to the Ukraine conflict; they would want nothing more than to see the West lose in this conflict.

Number three, I hope this select committee looks at how we can use our economic power in the United States in the trade space working with our like-minded allies in the Indo-Pacific region: Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, and Indonesia. We have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to the economic power we should be using in the region.

Finally, China continues to exploit democratic norms and standards throughout the region, engages in economic manipulation of the global marketplace, and threatens global peace and security efforts. This select committee is more important than ever to ensure the United States does not continue to delay our focus on the true needs of our strategic competition with China.

I strongly support this select committee, and I urge adoption of the resolution.

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