This occurred while senators continue to debate on the 2021 budget resolution using the budget “reconciliation” process, which allows congressional Democrats to pass tax and spending bills by a simple majority vote.
Blackburn said her amendments “counteract the liberal agenda that is putting our nation on the wrong path.”
In a lengthy list of amendments, Blackburn called for a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to “preventing the support or implementation of the civil-military fusion strategy of the communist party of China.”
The senator wrote that this may include “investigation of students, professors, researchers, or programs with declared or undeclared ties to the Communist Party of China.”
Another of Blackburn’s amendments targeted China-based company Huawei, and called for the U.S. government to prohibit the acquisition of telecommunications equipment produced by the company.
The senator’s final amendment related to any agreement between the United States and Iran and its nuclear or missile capabilities, and recommended any such agreements not move forward without formal consideration by congress.
Blackburn noted that this may include a requirement that Congress formally approve such an agreement.
“We’ve got a bakers dozen of good ideas to help clean up this bad process,” the senator said.
“One amendment would restrict China and another would prevent us from going back into the Iran nuclear deal, another would make sure that the Democrats have to get sixty votes on this budget, not do it with the simple majority.”
The day prior, Cruz voted against approving Raimondo as Commerce secretary, saying that her “ethics issues and soft stance on China,” which included her refusal to commit to keeping Huawei on the Entity List, was “deeply troubling.”
The Trump administration previously placed Huawei on the Commerce Department’s “Entity List”—a trade blacklist—due to national security concerns.
The Biden administration has yet to clarify its intentions for Huawei.
