WASHINGTON —
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills involving China, which will restrict the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries made by Chinese companies and set up a working group in the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and respond to threats from China. The bills will now await consideration by the Senate.
The House of Representatives passed the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, HR1166 , by voice vote on Monday (March 10) . The bill was voted on under the suspension of the House rules, which is usually adopted by Congress to speed up the passage of non-controversial bills by bipartisan members.
The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries from six companies with ties to China. The Chinese battery manufacturers named in the bill include Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., BYD Co., Ltd., Envision Energy Co., Ltd., EVE Energy Co., Ltd., Haichen Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. and Guoxuan High-tech Power Energy Co., Ltd.
“As communist China seeks to gain influence in key global industries, the United States must be at the forefront of confronting and decoupling from the CCP. As we become increasingly dependent on battery technology, we need to ensure that those batteries come from non-hostile countries,” said Republican Congressman Gimenez of Florida before the vote.
Rep. Lou Correa, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a floor speech that Democrats support the bill.
“This bill will confront our global adversaries and grow our industrial manufacturing base here in America. We cannot give the Chinese Communist Party any opportunity to undermine our homeland security,” said Democratic Rep. Craia of California.
China’s dominance in electric vehicle development has become the latest source of geopolitical tension with the United States. Asia’s largest economy produces about 80% of the world’s batteries and about 75% of lithium-ion batteries, making global automakers dependent on their Chinese partners to varying degrees. Despite the high cost and expense, the U.S. Congress is still working hard to come up with policies to catch up and solve the long-term high dependence on China for electric vehicle batteries.
“This dependency puts our supply chain at risk and threatens our national security,” Gimenez said. “Our government should not be spending tax dollars sourcing batteries from companies that profit from slave labor, or providing another avenue for the Chinese Communist Party to expand its surveillance apparatus in the United States.”
Congressman Jimenez is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. He has long paid attention to issues related to China and has introduced a number of bills to address the threats posed by Beijing.
The “Battery Decoupling from Foreign Adversaries Act” was passed by the last Congress with bipartisan support, but then faced a hurdle in the Senate and did not become law. All bills must be passed by both the House and Senate before they can be sent to the White House for the president to sign and take effect, completing the legislative work.
Meanwhile, bipartisan members of the House of Representatives unanimously passed another bill on Monday to establish a task force at the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and respond to threats from China. HR908 , the Strategic Homeland Intelligence and Enforcement Legislation to Defend Against CCP Act (abbreviated as SHIELD Against CCP Act), was introduced by Republican Congressman Dale Strong of Alabama.
The bill establishes a dedicated task force within the Department of Homeland Security to identify, assess and report on unconventional tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party to undermine U.S. security. The bill directs the Department of Homeland Security to step up efforts to combat Chinese espionage, intellectual property theft and other malicious activities.
In his speech at the Senate meeting, Congressman Strong quoted the Department of Homeland Security’s annual report, stating that “the Chinese Communist Party poses a clear and present threat to both American security and democracy.”
“The Chinese government poses a wide range of dangers to our nation. These threats span a wide range of domains, including public safety, borders, immigration, critical infrastructure, and economic security,” Strong said. “Threats of this nature undermine our global competitiveness and national security, and in some cases, impose significant financial burdens on our economy. It is absolutely necessary for the Department of Homeland Security to take decisive action to address these sophisticated threats at home and abroad.”
The bill mentioned that in recent years, the United States has become increasingly alarmed by the activities of the Chinese Communist Party, including the balloon incident that flew over the U.S. mainland in February 2023 and the discovery of illegally operating Chinese police stations in the United States. The House Homeland Security Committee held hearings on a series of China-related issues in the last Congress and at the beginning of this Congress, including the CCP’s theft of intellectual property, cyber espionage and attacks, and risks to infrastructure.
Democratic U.S. Representative Rafael Correa expressed support for the bill’s goals, saying it would help “ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has a coordinated and effective response to the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to undermine the United States.”
“Our primary competitor is China and the Chinese Communist Party, who are bent on tilting the global playing field in their favor and undermining our national standing,” Correa said. “In addition, the CCP seeks to exploit America’s openness to steal economic secrets and undermine our national security.”
The bill also authorizes interagency collaboration and policy review to address threats to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, border security, and economic supply chains.
After the bill is passed by the House of Representatives, it will be submitted to the Senate for deliberation. It is not yet clear what the Senate’s agenda for the bill will be.