NOTICIAS

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) filed 33 amendments to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. A summary of these amendments is below.
 
Protecting American Citizens and the American Economy from the Growing Threat of China:

• Taxpayers and Savers Protection Act. Ensures that federal workers’ and U.S. service members’ retirement savings cannot be invested in companies from “countries of concern.” These countries currently are China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
• Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act). Bans social media companies based in, or controlled by, countries of concern from commercially operating in the U.S., including TikTok.
• Preventing SBA Assistance from Going to China Act. Prohibits Small Business Administration assistance from going to any small business headquartered in the PRC or that has at least 25 percent of its voting stock owned by Chinese citizens.
• Countering Corporate Corruption in China Act. Modernizes the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by clarifying that the definition of corrupt intent includes actions that excuse genocide, atrocities, and other gross human rights violations in China; support the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy goals; advocate on behalf of the Party; or invest in certain industries supported by Beijing.
• National Development Strategy and Coordination Act. Authorizes $20 billion over 10 years to “supercharge” loans made by other federal financing facilities. The funding, controlled by the Department of Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank, would be directed by a new executive committee of cabinet-level agency heads. This committee would be charged with developing a National Development Strategy every four years. To execute that plan, it would further be authorized to direct agencies with existing direct loan and loan guarantee programs to set priorities for those programs consistent with the National Development Strategy.
• China Oil Export Prohibition Act of 2023. Bans any exports of oil and petroleum products to the People’s Republic of China.
• American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act. Prohibits malign Chinese companies – and any parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or controlling entities – that are listed on the U.S. Department of Defense list of Communist Chinese military companies or the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List from accessing U.S. capital markets.
• Depriving Enemy Nations of Integral Authorizations and Licenses (DENIAL) Act. Requires the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to adopt a presumption of denial for all export licenses to end users, and their subsidiaries, in Russia or China. Requires BIS to notify any approvals to Congress, which could be denied through a joint resolution of disapproval. 
• Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act. Safeguards American assets from Chinese influence and possession and helps to blunt China’s tools of economic aggression.

Countering China’s Military Threat, Defending Human Rights, and Strengthening Relations With Our Allies: 

• South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act. Authorizes the president to impose sanctions, including blocking property and banning visas, on broad categories of Chinese individuals who have contributed to China’s illicit reclamation, construction, and military activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea, or who are found to be complicit in actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of areas administered by Japan or Korea in the East China Sea.
• Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act. Requires the Department of Defense, along with the Treasury Department, Commerce Department, intelligence community, and Department of Homeland Security, to outline an effective sanctions strategy on China in the event of a Taiwan contingency, including identifying areas of particular vulnerability and steps required to improve industrial policy to address such vulnerabilities.
• Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act. Requires the president to annually certify whether the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETO) merit the extension of privileges, exemptions, and immunities that they currently maintain, as part of the autonomy certification required by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. If the President does not certify that HKETOs merit these privileges, then their offices in the United States are required to close.
• Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act. Expands sanctions and travel restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs. Authorizes the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide assistance to victims of genocide, broadcast initiatives to counter Chinese propaganda, promote the preservation of cultural and linguistic heritages repressed by the Beijing, mandate disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission of entities directly or indirectly engaged in activity supporting the Uyghur genocide, and fund organizations documenting human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
• Taiwan Peace Through Strength Act. Increases the level of critical military equipment provided to Taiwan by fast-tracking the transfer of capabilities and increasing joint training and planning. Increases coordination between the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries to ensure Taiwan is equipped to deter and defend against an attack and invasion by the People’s Liberation Army.
• Preventing PLA Acquisition of Technology Act. Bans U.S. “covered entities” (federal research agencies, U.S. universities that receive federal funding, and U.S. companies that accept federal funding) from directly engaging with a “Chinese entity of concern” (any Chinese university or research institution with the People’s Liberation Army) in any scientific research or technical exchange that has a direct bearing on, or the potential for dual use in, the development of technologies that the Chinese Communist Party has identified as a priority of its national strategy of military-civil fusion. 
• No PLA Loopholes Act. Closes a loophole in existing law in order to limit joint military operations and exercises between the United States and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party.
• Expediting Natural Gas Exports to Allies Act. Expands existing expedited approval processes under the Natural Gas Act for exports to allies and key strategic partners.
• North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act. Reauthorizes reporting and human rights programs originally authorized by the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act for five additional years. Imposes sanctions on Chinese entities responsible for refoulement of North Korean refugees.  

Protecting America’s Higher Education Systems from Chinese Influence:

• Foreign Influence Transparency Act. Requires organizations such as the Chinese government-run Confucius Institutes and their successors to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Amends the Higher Education Act to require universities to disclose donations, contracts, or fair market value of in-kind gifts from any foreign source if the amount is $50,000 or greater. Requires institutions that have entered into an agreement with a Confucius Institute to disclose the full agreement on their website and to the Department of Education or risk losing their Student and Exchange Visitor Programs. 
• GIFTs in Higher Education Act. Targets gifts and donations from designated foreign adversaries to American colleges and universities. Holds institutions of higher education and the U.S. Department of Education more accountable to reporting requirements under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which governs reporting of foreign gifts. 

Standing With Our Regional Allies:

• Authorization of certification on security and economic assistance to Colombia.  Conditions foreign military financing to Colombia on its continued adherence to extradition treaties with the United States and ability to insulate its defense and law enforcement sectors from Chinese influence, which are major concerns for the U.S. under the Petro Administration. 
• U.S. Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act. Requires a strategy to break the linkages between artisanal and small-scale miners and illicit actors, like the Maduro regime and the drug cartels, to prevent those bad actors from raising funds in the gold market.
• International Port Security Enforcement Act. Ensures that ports controlled by State Sponsors of Terrorism and Terrorist Organizations are automatically deemed as not having effective antiterrorism measures, through the International Port Security Program. Ensures that the U.S. Coast Guard does not share our nation’s port security protocols with terrorists or terrorist sponsors.
• Preempting Misguided Appeasement and Financing of Destabilizing Regimes Act. Prohibits the importation of crude oil, petroleum, petroleum products, and liquefied natural gas from Venezuela and Iran. The prohibition does not apply to those products seized by the U.S. government for violations of sanctions.

Fighting for the Gulf Test Range:

• Preserving the Gulf Test Range to Ensure Military Readiness Act. Prevents energy leasing in the Gulf of Mexico east of the Military Mission Line, which would severely jeopardize the Gulf Test Range.

Keeping Wokeness Out of the Military:

• Ensuring Military Readiness Act. Restricts any individual with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria from serving in the military, with limited exceptions.
• Restoring Military Focus Act. Eliminates the position of the Chief Diversity Officer of the Department of Defense, and prohibits the establishment of similar positions such as a Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion.
• Prohibition Against U.S. Contributions to International Organizations that Advocate for Sexual Activity Among Minors Act. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) to prohibit U.S. contributions to international organizations that advocate sexual activity by persons younger than the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent. 

Standing with our Middle East Allies and Deterring Iranian Aggression:

• Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act. Declares that it is the policy of the United States to deny Iran the ability to engage in destabilizing activities. Imposes sanctions against entities that engage in the illicit Iranian oil trade, such as ship-to-ship oil transfers, entities that own refineries that process Iranian oil, and entities that are included on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. Requires a report from the administration on the increase of exports of petroleum and petroleum products from Iran.
• U.S.-Israel AI Center Act. Creates a U.S.-Israel Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development Center to further bilateral cooperation in AI and contribute to the advancement of this critical field. The bill directs the U.S. Secretary of State, in consultation with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the heads of other relevant U.S. agencies, to establish a joint U.S.-Israel AI Center in the United States. The Center will serve as a hub for robust research and development in AI across the public, private and education sectors in the two nations.

Ensuring Justice for Military Spouses who are Victims of Domestic Abuse:

• Rachael Booth Act. Ensures standard eligibility for dependents of service members who are convicted of domestic abuse in civilian court, even if they are separated from the military for another offense. 

Strengthening NASA:

• Contracts and Obligations Modernization for Efficient Terms of Service (COMETS) Act. Allows NASA to use its procurement contracts to acquire supplies and services to meet, not only NASA requirements, but also the requirements of its commercial partners. Modernizing this process would enable more efficient NASA center operations across the country, which is necessary as the commercial space sector expands and NASA’s many commercial partners scale their operations. 

Improving Domestic Manufacturing Capabilities:

• Agility in Manufacturing Preparedness Act. Requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to contract with the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) for the purpose of evaluating the current capacity and vulnerabilities of biopharmaceutical manufacturing in the United States.