Economic Espionage Prevention Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, since illegally invading Ukraine, the Russian Federation has become reliant on the People's Republic of China for the supply of semiconductors and other critical dual-use technologies.
The State Department notified Congress this March that the PRC exports of semiconductors significantly increased last year compared to the pre-invasion levels.
These semiconductors are critical to aspects of the Russian war effort, including electronic warfare, command and control, and targeting. These components allow Russia to terrorize Ukrainian civilians with ballistic missile strikes at will.
The prevalence of U.S. manufacturing equipment in global semiconductor production means nearly all are subject to U.S. export controls if destined for Russia or Belarus.
My bill seeks to reduce Russia's access to these semiconductors by authorizing sanctions on foreign countries and adversaries that materially support Russia's military and intelligence services, violate U.S. export laws, and steal U.S. intellectual property.
It further requires a report on whether China is providing significant support to Russia's military and updates existing law to provide greater flexibility to pursue sanctions against China and other foreign adversaries if they violate these export controls.
The PRC may publicly claim that they do not provide material support to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but their continued provision of dual-use technologies with military applications demonstrates otherwise.
Cutting off the supply of semiconductors will seriously hamper the Russian war effort and show the world that we will not allow our adversaries to work together in destroying sovereign nations and undermining the international system.
I thank Chairman McCaul, Ranking Member Meeks, and my bipartisan colleagues on the Committee on Foreign Affairs for supporting the bill before us today. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 8361.
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