A group of Republican senators is sounding the alarm about provisions in legislation aimed at boosting U.S. economic competitiveness against China, arguing that language in the Senate version of the bill could be counterproductive to that goal.
In a letter sent to Senate conferees on Tuesday, Sens. Mike Braun (IN), Kevin Cramer (ND), Marco Rubio (FL), Rick Scott (FL), and Dan Sullivan (AK) argued that China’s push to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy is “the single most important geo-political issue” and asserted that the country cannot afford to get it wrong. The group pointed to language they feel would limit current resources that were used by the previous administration to fight back against the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to undermine the U.S. economy.
“We remain deeply concerned that several provisions germane to the conference would substantially weaken the ability of the United States to combat malicious Chinese economic influence. We write to note this concern with a conferenced agreement that weakens American economic position with respect to China and does not provide new enforcement tools to improve that position,” they wrote.
