(Washington, DC) Today on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Research and Technology Ranking Member Michael Waltz opposed the Democrats’ partisan “America COMPETES Act,” emphasizing that this massive package undoes over a year of bipartisan work in the Science Committee to craft a dozen effective competitiveness bills:
“If Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats were serious about addressing the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, they would have moved our House Science bills to conference months ago,” said Waltz. “We have been ready to go since June, when the two core elements of our package passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support. Instead, House Democrats wasted all summer and fall on massive spending bills like Build Back Better. And they have little to show for it.”
“What started as a bipartisan effort to keep the U.S. globally competitive went through the black box of Speaker Pelosi’s office and emerged as the Build Back Better Backup plan – filled with failed initiatives and liberal demands,” Waltz continued. “Instead of addressing competition and the threat from Communist leadership in China, this bill instead corrupts good, solid bipartisan work with thousands of pages of irrelevant policies. What kind of China bill mentions climate change more than China?”
Ranking Member Waltz also discussed the urgency with which Congress should be considering competitiveness legislation in the face of the rising influence of China in science and technology:
“The reality is that we are in desperate need of a competitiveness bill. The Chinese Communist Party is trying to overtake us as the global leader in science and technology because they know that leadership in science directly equates to a stronger economy, a more secure homeland, and greater influence in the ethical standards that underpin emerging technologies. So it’s no wonder that the CCP has been doing everything in their power to take every possible advantage in this global competition.”
“I can assure you, when the Chinese Communist Party considers how to outpace us in the technologies of the future, they aren’t wasting their time and money on UN climate slush funds,” Waltz continued. “We should be taking this every bit as seriously.”
Read his full statement here:
“Thank you, Madame Speaker. We’re here today to discuss what House Democrats are calling the America COMPETES Act.
It’s a shame that they are framing this as a bill about competitiveness, because the truth is that this is just another attempt to impose the Democrats’ out-of-touch liberal agenda on Americans.
And the reality is that we are in desperate need of a competitiveness bill. The Chinese Communist Party is trying to overtake us as the global leader in science and technology because they know that leadership in science directly equates to a stronger economy, a more secure homeland, and greater influence in the ethical standards that underpin emerging technologies.
So it’s no wonder that the CCP has begun doing everything in their power to take every possible advantage in this global competition.
The Chinese Communist Party is outspending us on research and development. They are graduating more STEM students and building their high-tech workforce faster. And they are acquiring valuable research and intellectual property through any means necessary – including forced acquisitions and theft.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that countering China’s global influence must be one of our highest priorities in Congress.
The House Science Committee took on this responsibility and did what the American people expect us to – we spent more than a year meeting with stakeholders, gathering feedback, finding consensus policies, and passing bipartisan legislation.
In total, we passed a dozen bills to double down on our investment in transformative basic research, build our STEM workforce, and strategically support the most important emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum sciences, and advanced manufacturing.
While those bills are included in this package, it is inaccurate to say that this is a China bill or a competitiveness bill. I want to be crystal clear – this is not bipartisan legislation, and it is not focused on the problems at hand.
If Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats were serious about addressing the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, they would have moved our House Science bills to conference months ago. We have been ready to go since June, when the two core elements of our package passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Instead, House Democrats wasted all summer and fall on massive spending bills like Build Back Better. And they have little to show for it.
And here we are, on Groundhog Day, fittingly, going through the same exercise we have already done multiple times. Democrats are trying to cram through a massive bill filled with unnecessary spending and messaging bills instead of focusing on the issues at hand.
What started as a bipartisan effort to keep the U.S. globally competitive went through the black box of Speaker Pelosi’s office and emerged as the Build Back Better Backup plan – filled with failed initiatives and liberal demands.
Instead of addressing competition and the threat from Communist leadership in China, this bill instead corrupts good, solid bipartisan work with thousands of pages of irrelevant policies.
What kind of China bill mentions climate more than national security?
There are very real consequences to this bad faith effort by Democrats in leadership. As much as 85% of America’s long-term economic growth is due to advances in science and technology. And we cannot take that continued growth for granted.
I can assure you, when the Chinese Communist Party considers how to outpace us in the technologies of the future, they aren’t wasting their time and money on UN climate slush funds. We should be taking this every bit as seriously.
I expect my colleagues to share the countless poison pills that make up this bill so I won’t elaborate on them more here. Instead, I will simply urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and urge Democratic leadership to get serious about the threat from China.
Let’s go to Conference with a clean, bipartisan competitiveness bill and set our country up for the continued economic success that Americans deserve.
I reserve the balance of my time.