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There is growing awareness of the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party to America’s economic and national security interests. Unfortunately, past efforts, including the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, left the door wide open to continued exploitation of our markets, research, and innovation.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) criticized the Democrat-only effort and offered 25 bills that should be included in any serious, bipartisan package aimed at strengthening our markets, reinvigorating our national research infrastructure, and protecting against China’s predatory behavior.

• “This is not just a competition with the Chinese Communist Party, it is a geopolitical, diplomatic, societal, technology, commercial, and trade conflict. It is time we start acting like it. We cannot pass another bill that allows taxpayer dollars to fund Chinese companies or research that is easily stolen by China. It doesn’t make sense.
  

• “If Senate Democrats are serious about this effort, they should be reaching out to Republicans instead of holding partisan press conferences. We need to strengthen our military, rebuild our industrial base, safeguard our research, and protect our capital markets. I am ready to work with anyone to get this done, but it does not appear Senator Schumer and the Biden White House are serious.” — Senator Rubio

Rubio, who released two reports in 2019 on Made in China 2025 and American Investment in the 21st Century, proposed 25 bills to be included in a bipartisan China-related package.

Safeguarding American Research and Capital Markets

• Safeguarding American Innovation Act: First introduced in 2020 by then-Senator Rob Portman, the forthcoming legislation would equip the federal government to protect taxpayer investment in research and development from global adversaries, including China. 

• Preventing PLA Acquisition of United States Technology Act: First introduced in May 2022, this legislation would prevent any federally funded U.S. research from being shared or conducted jointly with Chinese entities that participate in the Chinese Communist Party’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy.
  

• Genomics Data Security Act: First introduced in May 2021, this legislation would modernize the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) approach to national security and prohibit any NIH funding from going to support entities with direct ties to the government of the People’s Republic of China.
  

• Accountability in Federal Acquisitions and Contracting Act: First introduced in March 2021, this legislation would require federal contractors to disclose any existing contracts with the Chinese Communist Party, military, or any state-directed entity.
  

• American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act: First introduced in March 2021, this legislation would prohibit Chinese companies — including parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or controlling entities — that are listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List or the U.S. Department of Defense list of Communist Chinese military companies from accessing U.S. capital markets. 

• Taxpayers and Savers Protection (TSP) Act: which would prevent the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) from steering federal retirement savings to China. U.S. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) will be introducing the companion bill in the House. Rubio first introduced this legislation in November 2019. 

Investing in Critical Industries

• ONSHORE Manufacturing Act: First introduced in April 2022, this legislation would incentivize the development of rare earth metallurgy manufacturing facilities in the United States by creating a financial investment program within the U.S. Department of Energy.

• MMEDS Act: First introduced in August 2020 and reintroduced in April 2021, the legislation encourages companies currently producing medical devices and pharmaceuticals abroad to relocate to the U.S., including Puerto Rico. By enacting a tax credit applicable to federal income tax liability for wages, Rubio’s bill would repatriate facilities to economically distressed zones.  

• REVOKE Act: First introduced in March 2023, this legislation would significantly restrict the eligibility of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to prevent Chinese companies from benefiting.
  

• Patriotic Investment Act: The forthcoming legislation would incentivize divestment from Chinese securities and reinvestment in regions strategic to the national interest.

• Facilitating the Reshoring of Energy Grid Component Manufacturing Act: First introduced in August 2022, the legislation would establish an energy grid product manufacturing loan program at the U.S. Department of Energy to finance $8 billion in loan guarantees for the re-equipping, expansion, or establishment of domestic energy grid product and component manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

• Agility in Manufacturing Preparedness Act: First introduced in February 2022, the legislation would require 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 U.S. 

Blocking Chinese Influence Operations

• ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act: First introduced in December 2022, this legislation would block and prohibit all transactions from any social media company in, or under the influence of, China, Russia, and other foreign countries that are a threat to national security.
  

• No Federal Funding for CCP SPIES: The forthcoming legislation would close a loophole in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that allows the Secretary of Defense to grant a waiver for institutions of higher education that receive federal dollars to host Confucius Institutes.
  

• Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act: First introduced in December 2022, this legislation would reevaluate the United States’ recognition of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices following Hong Kong’s loss of autonomy.

• Greater Insight into Foreign Transactions (GIFTs) in Higher Education Act: First introduced in August 2021, this bill would target gifts and donations from designated foreign adversaries to American colleges and universities. The legislation would also hold 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.

Strengthening Military Alliances

• Taiwan Peace Through Strength Act: First introduced in May 2022, the legislation, which will be reintroduced in the near future, would increase the level of critical technologies provided to Taiwan by fast-tracking the transfer of capabilities and increasing joint training and planning.
  

• Hardening U.S. bases in the Indo-Pacific: The forthcoming legislation would require the U.S. Department of Defense to provide Congress with a plan to physically upgrade aircraft shelters in the Indo-Pacific against missile attacks to increase aircraft survivability in a Taiwan contingency.
  

• Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act: First introduced in December 2022, this bipartisan and bicameral legislation would require federal agencies to report to Congress on the United States’ non-kinetic options to prepare and respond to an attack on Taiwan by the Chinese Communist Party. 

• No PLA LOOPHOLES Act: First introduced in February 2022, this legislation would close 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, the People’s Liberation Army.

Holding Beijing Accountable

• South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act: First introduced in December 2016, the bipartisan legislation would impose sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities that participate in Beijing’s illegitimate activities to aggressively assert its expansive maritime and territorial claims in these disputed regions.

• Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act: The forthcoming legislation would expand sanctions authorized by Rubio’s Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021, expand visa prohibitions for foreign government officials responsible for forced abortions or sterilizations, and require companies with ties to Xinjiang to disclose these ties in their Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures.
  

• Countering Communist China’s Financing of Russia’s War On Ukraine Act: First introduced in July 2022, the legislation would impose mandatory sanctions on any entity that registers, provides insurance to, or facilitates registration of any vessel engaged in the shipment of Russian oil, petroleum products, or natural gas to China.
  

• China Oil Export Prohibition Act: First introduced in June 2022, this legislation would prohibit the exportation of oil and petroleum products from the United States to the Peoples’ Republic of China.

• COVID Act: First introduced in June 2021, this legislation would authorize sanctions and other restrictions in the event that, 90 days after enactment, the Chinese Communist Party fails to allow for a credible and comprehensive investigation into the origins of COVID-19 at suspected laboratories in Wuhan. Rubio’s bill would sanction leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including its more than 100 affiliated institutes and laboratories,13 local branches, and two universities.