Last week, Florida’s U.S. senators–Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott--championed the “Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act.”
Scott introduced the bill with Rubio joining four other Republican senators as co-sponsors.
“This legislation will reestablish the CCP Initiative at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which the Biden administration recklessly ended last month, and reinstate its effort to investigate and prevent spying by the Communist Party of China on U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions and counter threats to U.S. national security,” Scott’s office noted.
“We know that the Communist Party of China will stop at nothing in its mission for global dominance – and the Biden administration cannot afford to be naïve to the national security threats we face. It is unconscionable that the Biden administration ended the DOJ’s efforts to hold Communist China accountable for U.S. trade secret theft and economic espionage. I’m proud to lead this bill to reestablish the CCP Initiative, which will again be dedicated to protecting the United States’ intellectual property and our academic institutions from spying and interference by one of our greatest adversaries. Communist China has started the new Cold War with the United States – it’s our duty to protect our critical infrastructure and private sector, and take action to counter Communist China’s economic warfare,” Scott said.
“The Department of Justice canceled the China Initiative because a band of woke activists smeared it as racist and xenophobic. In the meantime, the espionage and influence campaign of the Chinese Communist Party continues to permeate our nation’s leading research institutions, exploiting our openness to steal our brightest ideas and most valuable technology. The Chinese Communist Party is the single greatest threat to our national security, and it was a foolish decision to divert resources from confronting this threat. We need to restart this important national security initiative right away,” Rubio said.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. So far, there is no companion measure in the U.S. House.
