House Passes 2 China-Related Bills to Safeguard US National Security

The two pieces of legislation would allow the Department of Homeland Security to address the Chinese regime’s threats to public safety in America.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Washington on March 25, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The House passed two bills on March 10 aimed at safeguarding the United States from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

One measure, the Strategic Homeland Intelligence and Enforcement Legislation to Defend Against the CCP Act (H.R.708), or SHIELD Against CCP Act, would establish a new working group within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to track ways the Chinese regime may be exploiting U.S. border, transportation, ports, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

A second measure, the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act (H.R.1166), would prevent the DHS from procuring batteries from certain China-based companies, including CATL, BYD, and Gotion High-Tech.

Both bills were passed by voice votes. A version of each bill was passed in the House in the previous Congress, but neither made it to the Senate floor.

“There’s no question that the Chinese Communist Party poses a clear and present threat to both the security and democracy of the United States of America,” Rep. Dale Strong (R-Ala.), who reintroduced the SHIELD Against CCP Act, said on the House floor on Monday.

“As detailed in DHS 2025 homeland threat assessment, the Chinese government poses a wide array of dangers to our nation,” Strong added. “These threats span across various sectors, including public safety, border, immigration, critical infrastructure, and economic security.”

The DHS report, released in October last year, also identified the Chinese regime as one of the “foremost transnational repression threats” that carry out activities targeting ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents, and journalists in the United States.

Strong, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, said his bill would require the DHS to provide an annual report to Congress, allowing lawmakers to “monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts.”

“China is expanding its covert influence, seeking to turn public opinion and effective policies that are more favorable to China and against the United States,” Rep. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), also a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said on the House floor.

“This bill will help ensure the DHS implements a coordinated and effective response to the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to undermine the United States,” Correa added.

In a post on social media platform X, after the bill was passed, Strong urged the Senate to take up the legislation and send it to President Donald Trump’s desk “without delay.”

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), who reintroduced the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act in February, said on the House floor that the United States “must be at the forefront of combating and decoupling from the CCP.”

“Communist China produces approximately 80 percent of the world’s batteries and roughly 70 percent of the world’s lithium-ion batteries,“ Gimenez said, pointing out that ”this dependence puts U.S. supply chains at risk and threatens our national security.”

He added, “Our government should not be spending tax dollars to procure batteries from companies that profit from slave labor or provide another avenue for the CCP to expand their surveillance apparatus here in the United States.”

In 2023, the United States imported nearly $12 billion of lithium-ion batteries from China, up from about $2 billion in 2020, according to data from Govini, a data analytics firm.

In October last year, Jose Fernandez, then-U.S. undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment, said that China was using its oversupply of lithium to price out global rivals.

China’s CATL, the world’s largest battery maker for electric vehicles, is currently on a Pentagon list of “Chinese military companies.”

In an X post, after the House passed the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, the House Select Committee on the CCP said, ‘This is a crucial step in reducing U.S. reliance on China and protecting our national security.”

The Senate version of the legislation was introduced by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in February.

“This bipartisan legislation will help safeguard both our supply chains and our national security by preventing the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing Chinese batteries for the devices and technology that keep Americans safe,” Hassan said in a statement at the time.