The head of a newly created House committee seeks to put more teeth into congressional pressure on the Trump administration over China’s technology trade war. Mike Gallagher, the Republican head of the House Select Committee on China, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, the panel’s ranking Democrat, plan to introduce a bill to bar the government from buying drones made in China or with Chinese components, the Financial Times reported. They would instead encourage agencies to buy secure, American-made drones and expand existing partnerships with private sector companies that produce them.
Congress is increasingly concerned about the Pentagon’s over-reliance on Chinese drones, which can cost tens of millions of dollars and can be used to spy on U.S. military and civilian targets. The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mark Warner, and the ranking Democrat, Rick Scott, have already introduced legislation that calls for a ban on the purchase of drones built in countries that pose a threat to national security. The Senate’s version of the defense bill includes the provision, and the House Armed Services Committee will debate it in the coming weeks.
But the House’s new Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, established in January by lawmakers eager to hold Beijing accountable for its recent national security offenses, is a rarity in today’s partisan Washington. Its leaders, Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, disagree on many things, but they appear determined to work together. They recently issued a joint statement on the Chinese spy balloon incident and appeared on PBS Newshour together.
The panel’s first hearing is scheduled for Tuesday night and will look at the economic competitiveness of the two nations, with a particular focus on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang region, Axios reported. The panel will hear from witnesses, including business executives, human rights advocates, and families of the Xinjiang victims. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi want to show that their committee is not anti-China even though they will examine some sensitive areas of the relationship.
A separate measure, the Drone Origin Security Enhancement Act, sponsored by Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, would prohibit DHS from purchasing drones built by entities with ties to “country of concern” nations, which could include China. The bill would also require DHS to take steps to improve the management of its drone fleets and those of its state and local partners.
The measure also would increase penalties for anyone who tampers with drones. It would make it a felony to remove or otherwise tamper with a drone’s identification number, the ability to detect and turn off its transmissions or anti-collision lights. It would also be a felony to intentionally interfere with another emergency response or law enforcement operation with a drone. Those who do so could face up to a ten-year prison sentence. The bill has dozens of cosponsors from both parties.