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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Braun (R-IN), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ben Sasse (R-NE), John Kennedy (R-LA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act, legislation that would prohibit malign Chinese companies — including the parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or a controlling entity — 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. U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. A one-pager of the legislation is available here.
 
“The Chinese Communist Party’s exploitation of U.S. capital markets is a clear and ongoing risk to U.S. economic and national security that must be addressed,” Rubio said. “The American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act will ban these companies from operating in U.S. capital markets and make clear to the Chinese Communist Party that they will no longer be able to exploit our financial system. I urge the Biden Administration to support this bill and build upon — not undo — the critical work the previous administration took to address China’s exploitation of U.S. capital markets.”
 
“The Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to dominate the technologies of the future poses an existential threat to our values, and underscores the need for the United States to selectively decouple its economy from China’s,” Gallagher said. “One step towards beginning this process is through preventing malign Chinese actors from exploiting our capital markets to finance their efforts. This legislation takes important steps to not only highlight ties between Chinese firms and the People’s Liberation Army, but also ensure that no American unwittingly subsidizes the Party’s efforts to undermine our values.”
 
“China does not play by the rules on the global economic stage, and I’m proud to support the American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act to stop the Chinese Communist Party from accessing U.S. capital,” Braun said.
 
“American investors shouldn’t fund China’s military and technological development,” Cotton said. “By denying Chinese companies with military connections access to American cash, we can prevent Americans from unknowingly supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s subjugation of its own citizens and its criminal activities against the United States.” 
 
“This is pretty simple: Communists who help keep Chairman Xi’s dictatorship running — operating his surveillance state, managing his torture camps, or building his next generation weapons systems — shouldn’t  be able to access American capital,” Sasse said. “We can’t let Beijing’s vast network of government-controlled puppet companies leverage American capital against American interests.”
 
“The Chinese Communist Party shouldn’t find ready investors on U.S. soil. I’m thankful to partner with Sen. Rubio to ensure that American capital isn’t developing, expanding, or strengthening China’s military,” Kennedy said. “This is a national security priority, and I hope our colleagues pass this bill without delay.” 
 
“The Chinese Communist Party, led by General Secretary Xi, is committing a genocide against the Uyghurs, taking away the basic rights of Hong Kongers and threatening Taiwan,” Scott said. “Everything a business does in Communist China is shared directly with a government that is jailing its people for their religious beliefs, refuses to respect human rights and is building up their industrial and military strength in an effort to dominate the world. I’m proud to join the American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act to make sure entities with ties to the Chinese Communist Party don’t have access to American capital.”
 
“For far too long, the Chinese Communist Party has used our capital markets to exploit American investors and working families saving for retirement to fund a military that perpetrates egregious environmental and human rights injustices,” said American Securities Association CEO Chris Iacovella. “Senator Rubio’s American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act is a common sense bill that prioritizes the economic and national security interests of all Americans.”
 
Currently, there are a number of Chinese companies, including over thirty identified on lists released in June and August 2020 by the Pentagon, accessing U.S. capital markets. This includes those companies that have been sanctioned by the U.S. government but are operating in the U.S. capital market system and are involved in the Communist Party’s military, espionage, human rights abuses, “Military-Civil Fusion Strategy,” and the ‘Made in China 2025’ industrial policy.
 
In 2019, Rubio introduced the Ensuring Quality Information and Transparency for Abroad-Based Listings on our Exchanges (EQUITABLE) Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to ban Chinese and foreign firms that flout U.S. laws from U.S. exchanges. Rubio previewed the legislation in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. A one-pager of the legislation is available here. Key Rubio provisions were included in Senator John Kennedy’s (R-LA) Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (S.945) and became law in 2020.
 
Related:

• Jan. 29, 2021: Rubio: Biden Should Side With American Workers and Industry, Not Wall Street and the CCP
• Dec. 2, 2020: Rubio Welcomes House Action to Ban Chinese Firms That Flout U.S. Laws From U.S. Exchanges
• Nov. 16, 2020: Rubio Urges Trump’s Working Group on Financial Markets to Address China’s Exploitation of U.S. Capital Markets
• Oct. 27, 2020: Rubio, Braun Introduce Legislation Banning Malign Chinese Companies From Exploiting U.S. Capital Markets
• July 21, 2020: Rubio Urges President’s Working Group on Financial Markets to Address China’s Exploitation of U.S. Financial System
• May 20, 2020: Rubio Applauds Senate Passage of Legislation to Ban Chinese & Foreign Firms That Flout U.S. Laws From U.S. Exchanges
• May 13, 2020: Rubio, Shaheen Welcome Decision by TSP Board to Halt Transfer of Federal Retirement Savings to China
• Nov. 6, 2019: Rubio, Shaheen Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill Banning TSP Board from Steering Federal Retirement Savings to China
• June 5, 2019: Rubio, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Ban Chinese & Foreign Firms that Flout U.S. Laws from U.S. Exchanges