Overdue and underwhelming: House GOP skips key China bills during ‘China Week’

Last week, House Republicans voted on a slew of China-related national security measures. The agenda undeniably included some important legislation, but unfortunately the final list of bills omitted major priorities that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had publicly committed to address.

Among the important legislation passed were several non-controversial, bipartisan bills aimed at China-related threats. These included measures such as the BIOSECURE Act, which would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to contract with Chinese military-linked biotechnology firms. The House also passed bills to check China’s dominance of the U.S. drone market, increase scrutiny over exports of critical technologies to China, prohibit tax credits for China’s heavily subsidized electric vehicles, and potentially strip special privileges for Hong Kong’s diplomatic outposts, which now essentially grant China an extra set of consulates in the U.S.

While long overdue, these are all encouraging steps. However, the success of “China Week” was undermined by several glaring omissions.

For example, The House didn’t address the “de minimis” tariff loophole, which provides duty-free treatment for any shipment valued under $800 and has become a backdoor free trade agreement with China. The U.S. receives about a billion of these shipments each year, over 60 percent of them from China alone, allowing hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports to evade tariffs and overwhelm customs inspectors. After the House failed to act, the White House immediately capitalized by enacting de minimis reforms that Republicans support but weren’t able to vote on.

Most critically, the agenda for China Week didn’t include measures to prohibit Wall Street from funding the development of military technology inside China itself. U.S. investments into China are mostly unrestricted and run into the trillions of dollars, with at least tens of billions supporting China’s military buildup and communist atrocities. President Biden has taken executive action to address some flows of U.S. capital into America’s top adversary, but congressional action remains essential.

Stopping the funding of America’s destruction is arguably Congress’ most urgent responsibility when it comes to China, yet certain Wall Street-friendly members have repeatedly foiled efforts to do so. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the lame duck chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is one of the chief culprits who, along with “other Wall Street-aligned lawmakers,” continues to block scrutiny for investments in Chinese military technology.

This intransigence is all the more frustrating because Johnson highlighted both outbound investment and the tariff loophole as important aspects of “China week” in a major speech just a few months ago. These items being forced off the agenda undoubtedly sends a mixed message to America’s adversaries in the Chinese Communist Party. On the one hand, the House took some strong actions to check China-related threats. On the other hand, some members still fight to perpetuate the U.S.-China economic interdependence built up over decades of blind engagement with China, which the Chinese communists eagerly leverage to undermine U.S. economic and national security.

House Republican leadership created the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party to chart a path forward on these very issues. By all accounts, that idea worked. The Select Committee forged a bipartisan consensus to reform the de minimis loophole and strengthen scrutiny on U.S. investments in China, among many other issues. On matters of national security, House Republicans should heed their national security experts — not the minority who think that Wall Street’s dealings with China should remain hidden and untouchable.

We’ve seen this battle play out before, when Congress deliberates China legislation that makes sense for everyday Americans but is unpopular with economic elites. In 2021 a bill to ban the imports of Chinese slave labor products faced fierce opposition from big business and President Biden’s climate czar John Kerry.

Once it was put up for a vote, however, it passed overwhelmingly. Similarly, when Congress was preparing to force China’s Communist Party to divest from TikTok earlier this year, the company mobilized high-profile donors and former officials to lobby on its behalf. Yet the TikTok bill also passed by an overwhelming vote after it was brought to the floor.

Curbing China’s abuse of trade loopholes and halting the unrestricted flow of U.S. capital into China’s military-industrial complex would play out the same way. If Congress has the courage to put these policies to a vote, they would almost certainly pass with overwhelming majorities. It’s well past time to do so.

Bryan Burack is a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at The Heritage Foundation.