Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security From Ccp Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLINE. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Texas for offering the bill, and I rise in support of it.

The ranking member of the committee indicated that we are moving in the right direction, but in looking at the numbers coming out of this Justice Department, this Biden-Harris Justice Department, it is clear that we are not moving in the right direction. It is clear that we are not moving at all. We are standing still.

According to the Department of Justice, approximately 80 percent of all economic espionage cases prosecuted by DOJ involved theft of trade secrets by the Chinese Government or its instrumentalities or agents.

Approximately 60 percent of all trade secret misappropriation cases brought in the United States have a nexus to the People's Republic of China under the CCP.

This is a strategic and intentional campaign by the CCP of intellectual property theft against the United States that has an annual cost estimated at approximately $500 billion.

During the Trump administration, the DOJ established the China Initiative within the Department to address the risks posed by the CCP and to prioritize prosecution of IP theft cases.

Despite the success of the China Initiative, the Biden administration bowed to pressure from radical leftists and canceled the program, and although they continue to claim that they have stood up a new program, it has not reached the successes of the China Initiative. In fact, the DOJ opened zero new economic espionage cases in 2022.

I am concerned by this administration's approach to IP theft and economic espionage by the CCP. In fact, under current law, spies operating on behalf of the CCP who have been expelled from the U.S. can immediately reapply for visas. The CCP exploits this loophole as part of their whole-of-nation approach to steal sensitive information from American companies and universities. I have a bill to close this loophole, and I thank my colleague, Mr. Gooden, for cosponsoring it.

As the cosponsor of the bill before us today, I believe it is important that we statutorily require that the DOJ resumes its important work that was being conducted by the DOJ's China Initiative during the Trump administration. I support this legislation.

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