Rep. Calvert Votes Against The America Concedes Act

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) voted against The America Concedes Act, partisan legislation that does more to help the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) than confront it.

"Stopping Chinese aggression, unfair economic policies, human rights abuses, and systemic theft of American intellectual property should be a cause that unites Democrats and Republicans, but Speaker Pelosi once again chose the path of putting party before country," said Rep. Calvert. "By rejecting Republican amendments and embracing radical ideas from the left, Speaker Pelosi chose to push forward a bill that pays lip service to our strategic competition with China and, in turn, is doing the Chinese Communist Party a huge favor. Again, Republicans offered ideas and amendments to add teeth to the bill to truly counter Chinese military and economic aggression, including my amendments to combat China's theft of American intellectual property, but were rejected at every turn. We need to take the threat posed by China seriously and respond in a strong, bipartisan way to meet this challenge."

The America Concedes Act Background:

(Courtesy of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans, House Education and Labor Committee Republicans, and House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans)

Sending U.S. Tax Dollars to China

• The bill mandates a massive injection of $8 billion worth of U.S. taxpayer money into the Green Climate Fund, an unaccountable slush fund controlled by the UN.
• The Green Climate Fund has already provided at least $100 million to China – meaning this legislation could dedicate more U.S. taxpayer money to subsidize the CCP.
• Democrats rejected attempts to prohibit the CCP from accessing the billions of dollars they want to pour into the Fund.
• The legislation also does not guarantee the $8 billion won't be used to purchase things like solar panels or batteries, whose supply chains in China are tainted by genocide.
• The bill also includes a $3 billion solar manufacturing program, which doubles down on the Democrats' failed policies of using government subsidies. This program will directly benefit China because of its dominance in the critical materials supply chain. It's a supercharged Solyndra waiting to happen with no controls to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

Failure to Meet China's National Security Threat

• The CCP is using access to U.S. technology and know-how to build hypersonic weapons. Yet, the Democrats' bill refuses to meaningfully use export controls to keep U.S. technology from supporting their military modernization and genocide.
• The bill completely omits Foreign Military Financing, which is security assistance the U.S. provides to friends and allies to help them stand up to CCP aggression. This is yet another crucial tool to protect U.S. national security interests that this legislation completely ignores.

Chinese Communist Party Infiltration of American Universities

• The bill fails to prevent the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries' influence on college campuses.
• The bill weakens sanctions from the Department of Education on institutions that fail to disclose large donations and contracts with foreign actors, including the Chinese Communist Party.

Waste and Misplaced Priorities

• The bill actually mentions the word coral more than China and authorizes $292 million for coral reef programs.
• The bill establishes a grant program for promoting "well-managed but less known" seafood species.

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