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

Floor Speech

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden) for crafting this legislation that protects America's innovation and economic security from CCP activity.

I rise today in support of this bill, as well as to offer an amendment on behalf of Congressman Byron Donalds, my fellow Florida man.

This amendment would modify the underlying bill to include an analysis of the national security risks of the CCP's unmanned aircraft and associated elements in the national airspace system.

Chinese drones are accounting for about 70 percent of the global drone market and 90 percent of the U.S. drone market. Additionally, Chinese drones have actively been undercutting U.S. Government contracts and U.S. companies by at least 50 percent.

Federal, State, and local governments use these Chinese drones for activities that include highly sensitive information for evaluating critical infrastructure and military operations.

Data stored from Chinese drones are subject to Chinese cybersecurity law, which requires New York operators to store select data within China and allows Chinese authorities to receive critical data notification.

China also dominates in critical manufacturing parts, including the semiconductors and communications equipment that are found in almost every drone today.

China has been known to have the capabilities to track and affect flights of the CCP drones, which could become problematic even to American aircraft.

If you haven't picked it up yet, the Chinese drones are a major national and economic security risk to the United States. This amendment will provide a crucial analysis of CCP unmanned aircraft and associated elements in the national airspace system, which will enable the United States to craft solutions to defend ourselves from these national and economic risks.

Congressman Donalds is right to be concerned with the proliferation of Chinese drone technology and the security threats which they pose. I am proud to offer this amendment on behalf of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), and I urge all Members who want to protect America's innovation and economic security to join me in supporting it and the underlying legislation.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) for his support, endorsement, and also understanding that I hear what the gentleman is saying, but I say one thing: We must be reminded of the China Initiative established in 2018, which was eliminated by the Biden-Harris administration in February of 2022, where over $500 billion prior to that had been stolen by the Chinese CCP and the PRC.

I want to caution the fact that support for H.R. 1398 does, in fact, help us and is not considered to be an anti-Asian bill, as Members on the other side of the aisle tried to establish.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chairman, I thank, once again, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden), for yielding me the time and putting together this important bill, the Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of this legislation as well as to offer an amendment to it.

As has been noted, the annual cost of intellectual property theft is estimated to be around $500 billion annually. What are we doing about it?

The Trump administration created a program to counteract this espionage and prosecute individuals that were taking advantage of American ingenuity and innovation. However, the Biden-Harris administration canceled yet another program that was working.

It is ironic how this has happened so many times, Mr. Chairman. Trump policies at the border are keeping Americans safe; we better cancel them.

Trump policies are working to grow the economy and people's paychecks; we better cancel them.

Trump policies are promoting peace around the world. We can't have that.

Following the Biden-Harris shutdown of the Chinese Initiative, there were zero, I repeat, zero, new economic espionage cases that were opened in 2022. It reminds me of the progressive DAs in Democrat-run cities that have stopped prosecuting crimes and that are saying: Look, crime is down. You are safe with me now.

Well, we are not safe in this country, Mr. Chairman, nor are we safe from the threats abroad with the Biden-Harris administration.

My amendment is very straightforward. When the DOJ prosecutes bad actors linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and they certainly will, they are directed to share that information with the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce so they can update their blacklist and further protect American companies.

This includes down to the subsidiary level where CCP entities get caught trying to evade detection through corporate proxies. For example, we have seen, when the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, also called AVIC, and the China Airborne Missile Academy was placed on the DOD's Chinese military companies list. While the DOD and defense contractors are prohibited from acquiring materials from AVIC, equipment made by the sanctioned company continues to find its way into our defense supply chains through a subsidiary company and part of AVIC.

This abuse is not specific to any one company or any one subsidiary, but it is a tactic utilized by the CCP to obscure its economic warfare and to fog financial connections.

We simply can't allow this, Mr. Chairman. I urge adoption of this amendment and the underlying bill to better protect America, Americans, and American interests.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) sharing his concerns. I argue that whatever the 2018 China Initiative had actually rendered with regards to the amount of investigations or findings is still far better than what the Biden- Harris administration has done, where they have had zero, Mr. Chairman, since 2022, when they canceled this.

I also remind everyone that this is a simple thing for us. What are we asking for here? We are asking for the DOJ to do their job, to prosecute bad actors of the Chinese Communist Party, not something that seems unreasonable, and to direct the shared information to the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce.

Mr. Chair, if CFIUS works so well, then I would have argued that they would have blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel to allow us to have an actual advantage and control our resources and economic capabilities, but they don't.

That is why I offer this amendment in an area to ensure that those companies that have been blacklisted can no longer circumvent the system and that the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce are aware of the investigations that should be held by the Department of Justice.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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