Patrick McHenry: Anti-China Bill Does Nothing to Combat China, Democrats ‘Desperate for a Win’

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general s
Wang Ye/Xinhua via AP

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Patrick McHenry said in a statement on Wednesday that the House Democrats’ anti-China bill would do nothing to combat the “rise” of China and that Democrats are “desperate” for a victory as their legislative agenda has stalled.

House Democrats released their vision aimed at helping the United States combat a rising China, especially in advanced manufacturing and fixing the supply chain.

As Breitbart News reported, the bill is riddled with climate change carveouts and woke provisions.

McHenry charged that the legislation would not help the United States concerning its political and economic competition with China.

“This Democrat bill does nothing to combat the rise of the Chinese Communist Party,” McHenry said. “Speaker Pelosi has once again put together a partisan bill with no Republican input.”

McHenry said:

Financial Services Democrats’ provisions include: policies to cover up for the Biden Administration’s giveaway of $40 billion in no-strings-attached IMF money to the CCP last spring, and their support for $130 billion more last summer; as well as granting Treasury unchecked authority to block Americans’ digital currency payments worldwide.
Most of these partisan provisions have never been marked up by our Committee and three were already rejected during NDAA negotiations.
As mentioned by McHenry, the legislation contains a provision that would regulate bitcoin and cryptocurrency activities.

Jerry Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh of the nonpartisan think tank Coin Center noted the provision would “hand the Treasury Secretary unchecked discretion to forbid financial institutions (including cryptocurrency exchanges) from offering their customers access to cryptocurrency networks.”

McHenry told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview last that the Republicans have to stop the “nefarious” efforts of the Biden administration and progressives’ assault on bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry.

House Financial Republicans said in their release that they have released proposals they believe would actually counter the threat of a rising China, including:

  • The Chinese Military Company Sanctions Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06), closes loopholes in U.S. restrictions on publicly traded securities of Chinese military and surveillance companies by requiring the President to impose OFAC sanctions following the listing of such companies by the Department of Defense and Treasury.
  • The IMF Reform and Integrity Act, introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI-02), prohibits an International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota increase for China unless China abides by the principles of the IMF and is committed to Paris Club rules.
  • The Special Drawing Rights Oversight Act, introduced by Rep. French Hill (AR-02), limits Treasury’s unilateral authority to allocate Special Drawing Rights, which could be used without conditions to send China billions of dollars in hard currency and allow its borrowers to repay Chinese loans.
  • The International Nuclear Energy Financing Act, introduced by Republican Leader McHenry, responds to Chinese financing of energy infrastructure abroad, including nuclear power, by requiring the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank to support financial assistance for the generation and distribution of nuclear energy.
  • The Neutralizing Unfair Chinese Export Subsidies Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY-01), requires a Treasury strategy and progress reports to advance international negotiations to bring China into compliance with the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits.
  • The Taiwan Non-Discrimination Act, introduced by Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16), requires the U.S. to support Taiwan’s membership and meaningful participation in the IMF.
  • The Chinese Currency Accountability Act, introduced by Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-08), makes any increase in the Chinese renminbi’s weighting in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights currency basket conditional on Treasury certifying that China is complying with key provisions of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the Paris Club, and the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits.
  • The 21st Century Dollar Act, introduced by Rep. Hill, requires Treasury to assess the risk regarding internationalization of the Chinese renminbi and a U.S. strategy on maintaining the U.S. dollar’s position as the global reserve currency.

 

“This is bad process, bad policy, and represents an unserious approach born of Democrats’ desperation for a win—after failing on everything from inflation to the COVID response,” McHenry concluded in his statement.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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