[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7476 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7476
To counter the malign influence and theft perpetuated by the People's
Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 29, 2024
Mr. Hern (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Duncan, Mr.
Gooden of Texas, Mr. Curtis, Mrs. McClain, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana,
Mrs. Harshbarger, Mr. Burchett, Mrs. Cammack, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr.
LaMalfa, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Pfluger, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Rouzer, Mr.
Dunn of Florida, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Edwards, Ms. Greene
of Georgia, Mr. Collins, Mr. Burlison, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Mike Garcia of
California, Mr. Langworthy, Mr. Babin, Mr. Bean of Florida, Mr.
Lamborn, Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Baird, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania,
Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Fulcher, Mr. Ezell, Mr. Fry, Mr.
Arrington, Mr. Hill, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Van Drew, and Mr. Moore of
Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on
Financial Services, Ways and Means, Rules, the Judiciary, Oversight and
Accountability, Energy and Commerce, Intelligence (Permanent Select),
Agriculture, Science, Space, and Technology, Natural Resources,
Education and the Workforce, Armed Services, Transportation and
Infrastructure, and Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To counter the malign influence and theft perpetuated by the People's
Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Countering
Communist China Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as
follows:
TITLE I--MATTERS RELATED TO TRADE, INVESTMENT, AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS
TITLE II--MATTERS RELATING TO COUNTERING CHINA'S MALIGN INFLUENCE
TITLE III--MATTERS RELATING TO MEDICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY SUPPLY
CHAINS
TITLE IV--MATTERS RELATING TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
TITLE V--MATTERS RELATED TO EDUCATION
TITLE VI--MATTERS RELATED TO DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND TAIWAN
TITLE VII--MATTERS RELATED TO DEFENSE
TITLE VIII--MATTERS RELATED TO THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
TITLE IX--MATTERS RELATED TO FINANCIAL SERVICES
TITLE X--OFFSETS
XI--NATIONAL SECURITY AUTHORIZATIONS
XII--FENTANYL
XIII--ENERGY
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The People's Republic of China and the Chinese
Communist Party represent the foremost national security threat
faced by the United States.
(2) The People's Republic of China and the Chinese
Communist Party are founded on the principles antithetical to
human freedom and dignity including Communism and
authoritarianism.
(3) The People's Republic of China and the Chinese
Communist Party seek to undermine free societies around the
world and establish an alternative world order rooted in
authoritarianism.
(4) In November 2012, at the 17th CCP Congress, General
Secretary Xi Jinping first announced his vision for achieving
``the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation'' and military and
economic dominance.
(5) The People's Republic of China currently has the
world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP ($14.14
trillion) and the largest in terms of purchasing power parity
(PPP) GDP ($27.31 trillion). In 2000, the People's Republic of
China controlled only 4 percent of the global economy, and the
United States controlled 31 percent. Today, the People's
Republic of China stands at 15 percent and the United States
share has dropped to 24 percent.
(6) The growth of the People's Republic of China's
centrally controlled economy has been fueled largely by tools
of economic coercion, including intellectual property theft and
economic espionage of U.S. companies. In 2019 alone, one in
five North American-based companies said that Chinese firms had
stolen their intellectual property (IP) within the last year.
(7) Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has stated that
the People's Republic of China ``is perpetrating the greatest
intellectual property theft in human history''.
(8) In addition to its economic aggression and military
modernization, the People's Republic of China conducts
political warfare and disinformation campaigns against the
United States and other democracies. It frequently targets
academia, the media, business, and cultural institutions to
suppress criticism and promote positive views of the CCP.
(9) The foremost victims of the People's Republic of China
and the Chinese Communist Party are the Chinese people who
continue to suffer under communist authoritarian rule.
(10) The People's Republic of China continues to perpetuate
a genocide against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, in
addition to brutal crackdowns against the people of Tibet and
Hong Kong.
(11) The CCP continues to obfuscate the origins of the
COVID-19 pandemic which started in Wuhan, China and has refused
to allow an impartial international investigation into the
origins of the pandemic.
(12) Manifestations of expressions of racism, bigotry,
discrimination, anti-Asian rhetoric, and xenophobia against
people of Asian descent are contrary to the values we hold
dearest as Americans, counterproductive to countering the CCP's
malign influence, and denounced by the Congress of the United
States.
SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or an amendment made by this Act, or
the application of such provision or amendment to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this Act, the
amendments made by this Act, and the application of such provision and
amendments to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.
TITLE I--MATTERS RELATED TO TRADE, INVESTMENT, AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS
SEC. 101. PREVENTING ADVERSARIES FROM DEVELOPING CRITICAL CAPABILITIES.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Preventing
Adversaries from Developing Critical Capabilities Act''.
(b) Exercise of Authorities Under the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act.--
(1) In general.--The President may exercise all authorities
provided under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) necessary to carry out the provisions
of this section, including authorities to impose penalties
under section 206 of such Act.
(2) Delegation.--The President may delegate the authorities
described in paragraph (1) to the head of any Federal agency
the President determines appropriate in order to carry out the
provisions of this section.
(c) Prohibition on Covered Activities in Covered Sectors That Pose
Particularly Acute Threats to United States National Security.--
(1) Identification of categories of technologies and
products.--
(A) In general.--Not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually
thereafter as described in subparagraph (B), the
President--
(i) shall identify categories of
technologies and products in covered sectors
that may pose a particularly acute threat to
the national security of the United States if
developed or acquired by a country of concern;
and
(ii) publish a list of the categories of
technologies and products identified under
subparagraph (A) in the Federal Register.
(B) Updates.--The President shall annually review
and update the list of the categories of technologies
and products identified under subparagraph (A)(i) and
update the Federal Register under subparagraph (A)(ii)
as appropriate.
(2) Prohibition on covered activities.--The President
shall, on or after the date on which the initial list of
categories of technologies and products is published in the
Federal Register pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(ii), prescribe,
subject to public notice and comment, regulations to prohibit a
United States person from engaging, directly or indirectly, in
a covered activity involving a category of technologies and
products on such list of categories of technologies and
products in a covered sector. Such regulations should--
(A) require that a United States person take all
reasonable steps to prohibit and prevent any
transaction by a foreign entity under the control of
the United States person that would be a prohibited
transaction if engaged in by a United States person;
and
(B) exclude any transaction consisting of the
acquisition of an equity or other interest in an entity
located outside a country of concern, where the
President has determined that the government of the
country in which that entity is established or has its
principal place of business has in place a program for
the restriction of certain activities involving
countries of concern that is comparable to the
provisions provided for in this Act.
(3) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the covered sectors include certain categories of technologies
and products that would pose a particularly acute threat to the
national security of the United States if developed or acquired
by a country of concern, and that the President should identify
certain technologies and products in the covered sectors as
categories of technologies and products in covered sectors for
purposes of paragraph (1)(A).
(d) Mandatory Notification of Covered Activities in Covered Sectors
That May Pose Threats to United States National Security.--
(1) Identification of categories of technologies and
products.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the President shall--
(A) identify categories of technologies and
products in covered sectors that may pose a threat to
the national security of the United States if developed
or acquired by a country of concern;
(B) publish a list of the categories of
technologies and products identified under subparagraph
(A) in the Federal Register; and
(C) annually thereafter, review the categories of
technologies and products identified under subparagraph
(A) and publish an updated list of the categories of
technologies and products in the Federal Register under
subparagraph (B) if the list identified in subparagraph
(B) has changed.
(2) Mandatory notification.--
(A) In general.--Beginning on the date that is 90
days after the date on which the initial list of
categories of technologies and products is published in
the Federal Register pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), a
United States person engaging in a covered activity
involving a category identified in paragraph (1)(A), or
controlling a foreign entity engaging in an activity
that would be a covered activity if engaged in by a
United States person, shall submit to the President a
complete written notification of the activity not later
than 14 days after the completion date of the activity.
(B) Circulation of notification.--
(i) In general.--The President shall, upon
receipt of a notification under subparagraph
(A), promptly inspect the notification for
completeness.
(ii) Incomplete notification.--If a
notification submitted under subparagraph (A)
is incomplete, the President shall promptly
inform the United States person that submits
the notification that the notification is not
complete and provide an explanation for
relevant material respect in which the
notification is not complete.
(C) Identification of non-notified activity.--The
President shall establish a process to identify a
covered activity involving a category identified under
paragraph (1)(A) for which--
(i) a notification is not submitted to the
President under subparagraph (A); and
(ii) information is reasonably available.
(3) Confidentiality of information.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph
(B), any information or documentary material filed with
the President pursuant to this section shall be exempt
from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5,
United States Code, and no such information or
documentary material may be made public by any
government agency or Member of Congress.
(B) Exceptions.--Subject to appropriate
confidentiality and classification requirements, the
exemption from disclosure provided by subparagraph (A)
shall not prevent the disclosure of the following:
(i) Information relevant to any
administrative or judicial action or
proceeding.
(ii) Information provided to Congress or
any of the appropriate congressional
committees.
(iii) Information important to national
security analysis or actions of the President
to any domestic government entity, or to any
foreign governmental entity of an ally or
partner of the United States, under the
direction and authorization of the President,
only to the extent necessary for national
security purposes.
(iv) Information that the parties have
consented to be disclosed to third parties.
(e) Reporting Requirements.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date on
which the regulations prescribed under subsection (f) take
effect, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the
President shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report that--
(A) lists all notifications submitted under
subsection (d)(2) during the year preceding submission
of the report, disaggregated by--
(i) sector;
(ii) covered activity;
(iii) covered foreign entity; and
(iv) country of concern;
(B) an assessment of whether to amend the
regulations, including whether to amend the definition
of ``covered sectors'' to enhance national security;
(C) provides additional context and information
regarding trends in the sectors, the types of covered
activity, and the countries involved in those
notifications, including--
(i) the location of the relevant covered
foreign entities; and
(ii) the country in which the United States
person or foreign entity controlled by such
United States person involved in the relevant
covered activity is located; and
(D) assesses the overall impact of those
notifications, including recommendations for--
(i) expanding existing Federal programs to
support the production or supply of covered
sectors in the United States, including the
potential of existing authorities to address
any related national security concerns; and
(ii) the continuation, expansion, or
modification of the implementation and
administration of this section.
(2) Form.--Each report required by this section shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
(3) Prohibition on disclosure.--Information contained in
each report required by this section may be withheld from
disclosure only to the extent otherwise permitted by statute,
except that all information included pursuant to paragraph
(1)(A) shall be withheld from public disclosure.
(f) Requirement for Regulations.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date on
which the initial list of categories of technologies and
products have been published in the Federal Register pursuant
to sections (c)(1)(A)(i) and (d)(1)(B), the President shall
prescribe and finalize proposed regulations to carry out this
Act.
(2) Elements.--Regulations prescribed to carry out this
section shall specify--
(A) the types of activities that will be considered
to be covered activities;
(B) the technologies and products