Senate Democrats said that they aim to craft a bipartisan and comprehensive bill to enhance US economic competition with China and respond to any aggression against Taiwan.
(Bloomberg) — Senate Democrats said that they aim to craft a bipartisan and comprehensive bill to enhance US economic competition with China and respond to any aggression against Taiwan.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a briefing Wednesday, alongside several of his colleagues, that the party will work with Republicans, who have already shown “great interest.”
The plan comes amid efforts by Washington and its allies to coordinate their responses to China’s rising global economic and strategic clout.
The drive also highlights the growing interest by members Congress to dictate the terms of that challenge, including various bills to ban the use of some China-based phone apps in the US, particularly TikTok, and the formation of a Republican-led China select committee in House.
“We are committed to maintaining America’s lead in the future,” Schumer said at the briefing. “Time is not on our side.”
The package, which Schumer said may include new sanctions and may be ready in “the coming months,” will have five focus areas.
The first is to limit China’s access to cutting-edge technology, which includes preventing Beijing’s development of advanced technologies and strengthening export control laws.
Outbound Investment
The second is to restrict investment flows to China, including a ban on some outbound US investments. That dovetails with plans by President Joe Biden to sign an executive order limiting some investments in China, which the administration aims to rally support for during the Group of Seven summit in Japan later this month.
The other focus areas include new domestic investments in key technologies; creating an alternative foreign aid program to counter China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative in Asia; and aiming to deter China from initiating a conflict with Taiwan or other regional allies.
Schumer and his colleagues on Wednesday highlighted issue around the the supply of critical minerals, which are dominated by China and seeing demand surge amid the transition to green energy, as well as protecting the agricultural sector, trade and intellectual property.
Read more: Yellen Says China Security Worries Eclipse Economy Interests
Schumer on Wednesday said he aims to get enough Republican support to get the bill passed in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to advance legislation.
GOP House Challenge
The Republican-led House will be a separate challenge. The House last year, when it was in Democratic control, approved $52 billion measure of grants and incentives to domestic semiconductor manufacturing in the US as part of a China competition bill. Republicans voted against the bill, led by now-speaker Kevin McCarthy, who derided it as “corporate welfare.”
The national security part of the initiative may have a better chance of clearing Congress. McCarthy is in favor of stronger ties with Taiwan and hosted President Tsai Ing-wen in early April.
Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch said he’s “modestly” optimistic a bipartisan China bill can be produced, adding that he’s working with Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat, on a piece of the proposed bill that would broadly define US relations with China militarily and economically.
(Updates with Schumer quote in fourth paragraph.)
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