“Congress must act in this instance to hold accountable bad actors in global trade, and in particular, Chinese wrongdoing,” said Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who chairs that committee.
Sewell, Kildee, and Pascrel co-sponsored the resolution alongside several other Republicans and Democrats, running the gamut from Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
All other Democrats on the committee voted against the resolution.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member, said she thinks the resolution “is not the right solution at this time.”
“While the administration’s emergency order is not perfect, it is a short-term intervention that gives solar projects in the pipeline a needed bridge,” she said.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) said the legislation “would cost American jobs.”
“The fact of the matter is, the U.S. domestic solar industry cannot at this time meet demand. Our domestic market is saturated,” he said.
Sewell defended the bill.
“At the end of the day, this resolution is about enforcement of our trade laws,” she said.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) drew attention to the scale of China’s control over the solar panel supply chain.
“I do believe in an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policy that supports whatever form of energy makes sense for the community, but that doesn’t mean we should provide special treatment for unfairly traded solar panels that rely on supply chains dominated by our adversaries,” he said.
Hearing Examines Chinese Gains from IRA
China remained in focus for the committee in a subsequent hearing on Wednesday.Experts testified regarding last year’s Schumer-Manchin bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It contained numerous tax credits and similar measures to incentivize renewable energy and similar technologies.
“While the wealthy and politically connected get a massive windfall from the Democrats’ taxpayer-subsidized handouts, working families, small business owners, and farmers—they’re struggling,” committee chair Smith said.
Chu said the hearing was an example of Republicans “us[ing] China to distract from their own policy failures,” arguing that the IRA was doing a lot to reduce the United States’ reliance on China.
She also accused Republicans of rhetoric that “contributes to dangerous anti-Asian hate.”
Drew Horn, executive director of the rare earth supply chain company GreenMet, went into more detail regarding the threat from China.
Ford told The Epoch Times in February that it thinks the plant will benefit from the IRA’s advanced manufacturing tax credit.
Horn informed lawmakers that CATL and the People’s Republic of China “are essentially the same thing. There’s really no separation.”
He warned of China’s attempts “to prevent any meaningful competition in downstream rare earth element production outside of the PRC’s control,” including through online disinformation campaigns.
“The lack of secure and uninterruptible critical mineral supply chains is, in my professional opinion, the most significant national security threat that the United States and other friendly countries are facing thus far in the 21st century,” Horn testified.
