Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act, known as the FACT Act. I introduced this bill in January, and I have been pleased to see it advance through committee and now onto the House floor.

First, I thank Chairman Guthrie, Chairman Hudson, and the entire Energy and Commerce Committee for advancing this bill, and Leader Scalise for bringing it to the floor today. Additionally, Representatives Stefanik, Kean, Castor, and Khanna have been strong partners in garnering support for this legislation as cosponsors. I also thank my staff as well as those fellow cosponsors on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in leadership for their diligent work on this important bill.

I also applaud the administration for taking the CCP's threat to our national security seriously. Communist China is using every tool at its disposal to conduct a coordinated campaign to surveil and collect information on Americans. We should all be deeply concerned about that. China is not our friend.

China looks to defeat us both economically and strategically. This is one of many means that they are using to accomplish that. They are infiltrating our telecommunications networks and technology sectors for the sole purpose of doing harm to the United States and its friends. Despite this clear threat, far too many companies with ties to the CCP and other foreign adversaries still hold authorities to operate in the United States, often without the public's knowledge. That is absolutely unacceptable.

While companies like Huawei and ZTE are well known, others controlled by the CCP continue to fly under the radar. They are doing this purposely. They are creating entities that are third- and fourth-order separates from these main organizations to be able to obfuscate those connections back to the CCP.

That is where the bipartisan FACT Act comes in. It would require the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of these companies that hold FCC authorizations and have any ownership by foreign adversarial governments, including our adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

This transparency is critical. Americans deserve to know which companies inside our tech and telecommunications markets are linked to hostile regimes. Shining a light on this malign influence is the first step toward a stronger action to defend our communications infrastructure and our national security.

We know what these threats are. We have seen them develop. We have seen them accelerate. We have seen what China's intent is. The FACT Act will mark real, bipartisan progress in achieving these efforts. It is a necessary step to protect Americans from surveillance and infiltration by foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation, and I look forward to continuing to work together to defend American sovereignty and security.

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