Strong-Suozzi Bipartisan Legislation to Counter Threats from the Chinese Communist Party, Defend American Interests Passes the House
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December 10, 2024
Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY) announced that the House has passed bipartisan legislation that he is co-leading with Congressman Dale Strong (R-AL), H.R. 9668, the SHIELD Against CCP Act, to counter threats to our homeland from the Chinese Communist Party and defend American interests.
The bill would establish and authorize a dedicated Department of Homeland Security working group to identify, evaluate, and counter threats to homeland security posed by the CCP.
Congressman Suozzi is the Co-chair of the Congressional Uyghur Caucus and a former member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Suozzi’s floor speech can be viewed here.
The transcript of Suozzi’s floor speech is below:
Mr. Speaker,
I rise in support of a bill I authored with Congressman Strong, the bipartisan “SHIELD Against CCP Act.”
The Chinese Communist Party is intent on promoting authoritarianism by weakening America from within. They seek to take our greatest strengths—pluralism, diversity, free speech, capitalism and representative government—and use them against us. China uses our freedoms, our social media, and our open society to sow chaos and division in our country. They know we cannot solve difficult problems in an environment of fear and anger, so they encourage fear and anger. They promote the most extreme sides of our thorniest debates. Whether its Black Lives Matter vs Blue Lives Matter, or Transgender vs Evangelicals, or Israel vs Gaza – the Chinese Communist Party promotes the most extreme positions on both sides of the debate, not with an objective of winning a debate, but of fomenting dissent in America.
Add to this theft of our intellectual property, threats to our critical infrastructure and trying to intimidate US citizens through transnational repression. We must act.
The fact that today we are promoting bipartisan legislation is our greatest possible response. Democrats and Republicans can work together to combat this threat!
Our bipartisan bill counters the Chinese Communist Party with strength by 1) building the capacity of the Department of Homeland Security to fight predatory economic and trade practices, 2) preventing identity theft, 3) strengthening border security, 4) providing the Department of Homeland Security with adequate resources to protect our critical infrastructure, 5) improving cybersecurity, and 6) fighting transnational repression and criminal organizations.
The FBI Director has stated that the CCP poses a “broad and unrelenting” threat.
The Chinese Communist Party is also engaged in a brutal campaign of transnational repression, targeting democracy advocates, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups.
The Chinese Communist Party actually targets Americans, including my constituents. Just before Thanksgiving, after years of fighting for his release, I received the incredible news that my constituent Kai Li was finally released to the U.S. after nearly a decade of wrongful imprisonment in China. If we are to honor the years Mr. Li spent in Chinese detention, we must remain clear-eyed about the CCP threat and redouble our efforts to counter it.
Among their provocative tactics is transnational repression, which can be illustrated through the torment of Dr. Gulshan Abbas and her family. In 2018, Dr Abbas, was taken to a Uyghur forced labor camp. Her crime? Her sister Rushan Abbas spoke out against the Uyghur Genocide during a panel discussion here in America.
Think about it—the CCP is not only carrying out mass detention, torture, forced sterilization and forced labor against religious minorities within China, but also imprisoning family members of American citizens to suppress freedoms within America!
Let me be clear: the United States cannot waiver in the face of this unrelenting strategic adversary.
Today, we can demonstrate our resolve by supporting the SHIELD Against CCP Act, which will help ensure that our government has a strong and unified response to the Chinese Communist Party’s aggression.
Working with Rep. Strong demonstrates that when we work together, we will succeed. I urge all Members to support this legislation.
Thank you.
Read this legislation here.
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