House Republican Reintroduces Bill to Prevent Federal Funds From Flowing Into CCP’s Hands

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) arrives for a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 14, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is reintroducing a bill on Thursday that would require the federal government to detail any funding flowing to companies in communist China, The Epoch Times has learned.

The bill, named “Our Money in China Transparency Act,” is the latest effort to track U.S. investment in China amid rising concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) espionage efforts against the United States and its citizens.

“The CCP is a national security threat; it’s time we act like it. And this means knowing every cent the federal government is sending to China,“ Mr. Green said in a statement to The Epoch Times. ”While Xi Jinping is busy scheming, we must be proactive instead of reactive.”

The legislation, if passed, would require the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget to include a report in its annual budget document submitted to the President, detailing how federal funds go to individuals or entities in China, including any American universities’ China-based campuses. It would also require disclosure of federal-funded programs and activities that were conducted with communist China in the prior year.

The bill “mandates one important thing: transparency,” he said. “Taxpayers deserve a detailed look at funds that currently go to entities in China.”

The congressman sounded alarms on the CCP’s increasing espionage programs, such as setting up police outposts on U.S. soil, efforts to devalue the U.S. dollar, and the theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets.

Currently, the FBI is engaged in more than 2,000 investigations across every field office into communist China’s “relentless efforts to steal our innovation and intellectual property,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Nov. 15.

The communist regime in China poses “a threat to our way of life and our national security,” Mr. Green said. “Xi Jinping will stop at nothing to undermine the United States.”

To stop U.S. dollars from enriching the Chinese regime, it’s important to increase the transparency of federal funding, he said.

“It’s simple—the American people should know which Chinese Communist Party-affiliated entities and institutions receive our federal dollars. And this includes money sent by institutions of higher education that accept taxpayer funding,” Mr. Green said. “No federal department or entity receiving federal funds should be exempt.”

A balloon highlighting Beijing's transnational repression is held at a news conference and rally in front of the America ChangLe Association in New York on Feb. 25, 2023. A now-closed overseas Chinese police station is located inside the association building. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Aside from the national security challenges, the U.S. government has been spending more money than it takes in for more than two decades. The total national debt is “inching closer and closer” to $34 trillion, he said.

“With such massive debt, we must be able to justify every expenditure to the American people,” Mr. Green said. “That is why we need an account of every dollar that ends up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

At his panel’s hearing on Nov. 15, he expressed concerns over the security challenges posed by foreign adversaries, such as the CCP, which he said has continued to target the United States militarily, economically, technologically, and diplomatically.

Over the past year alone, the CCP has ratcheted up its espionage efforts in various ways, according to Mr. Green. Attempts by the regime to undermine U.S. national security include the high-altitude balloon from China that hovered over the continental United States for several days, traveling through multiple sensitive military sites before an F-22 fighter jet shot it down from the sky off the Carolina coast.

The Republican lawmaker also pointed to a series of cases involving Chinese nationals who ventured onto military bases and snapped photos before being arrested.

Adding to his concerns is the fact that a growing number of Chinese nationals are seeking to enter the United States illegally across the southern border. The U.S. Border Patrol made more than 24,000 arrests of Chinese nationals at the Southwest border in the 12 months through September, which represents a more than 10 times increase from the year before.

Such attempts by the CCP, Mr. Green said, came amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, as it mounts aggression in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

“I do not say this lightly; this is one of the most dangerous times in the history of the United States,” he said in the prepared testimony.