Pascrell Boosts Bill Beating Back Bellicose Beijing and Bringing Business Back

Comprehensive America Competes package includes Pascrell legislation to strengthen American supply chain and bring business back from overseas

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today spoke on the floor the House of Representatives in strong support of the America COMPETES Act, comprehensive legislation to counter the rising negative influence of the Chinese Communist Party. COMPETES includes the bipartisan “National Critical Capabilities Defense Act,” authored by Reps. DeLauro, Pascrell, Spartz and Fitzpatrick, which is written to repair America’s frayed supply chains and stanch the bleeding of American industrial might to foreign adversaries. This Pascrell led provision would create a whole-of-government screening process for outbound investments and the offshoring of critical capacities and supply chains to ensure that the United States can quickly detect supply chain vulnerabilities.

“The Chinese Communist Party government climbed our back to economic power! They are abusing that power to commit genocide, crush democratic norms, and undermine workers. We must stop our adversaries from leaching off America’s economic might to sow discord. Our bill will strengthen frayed supply chains. It will stop the bleeding of our industrial might being shipped to foreign adversaries. It is time to enhance supply chain visibility. We must empower trade that does not undermine American competitiveness,” Rep. Pascrell, a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, said in his floor remarks.

The comprehensive package includes several trade related pieces of legislation focused on supporting U.S. workers, holding China accountable for trade abuses, improving trade remedies for domestic industries, and investing in domestic manufacturing to support good paying jobs. The bill includes robust improvements to the lapsed Trade Adjustment Assistance program to ensure workers obtain federal assistance after their jobs are impacted by trade, including the Pascrell authored “Improved Access to Trade Adjustment Assistance Act” (H.R.5258) that was inspired by Mondelez closing its cookie factory in North Jersey, terminating approximately 600 jobs. The bill also includes legislation to crack down on abuses in De Minimis shipments from China and update our antidumping and countervailing duty laws.

On January 20, 2022, Chairmen Pascrell and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03), the Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, wrote to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, calling out the carmaker for opening a showroom in Xinjiang Province, the heart of the CCP’s atrocities against the Uyghur peoples. Their letter further implored Tesla to set a better example against the CCP’s crimes.

Chairman Pascrell is one of the leading critics in Congress of the Chinese Community Party and for decades has sounded the alarm of the offshoring of American jobs overseas. Pascrell is the sponsor of the bipartisan American PPE Supply Chain Integrity Act to help end America’s over-reliance on personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies from China and other foreign nations.

The full text of Rep. Pascrell’s prepared remarks is below.

Rep. Pascrell prepared remarks on the America COMPETES Act

I rise in strong support of the America COMPETES Act. This includes my bipartisan, bicameral bill, the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act.

Our bill will strengthen frayed supply chains. It will stop the bleeding of our industrial might being shipped to foreign adversaries.

The Chinese Communist Party government climbed our back to economic power! They are abusing that power to commit genocide, crush democratic norms, and undermine workers!

We must stop our adversaries from leaching off America’s economic might to sow discord.

It is time to enhance supply chain visibility. We must empower trade that does not undermine American competitiveness.

I thank Reps. DeLauro, Spartz, and Fitzpatrick for helping introduce this bill.

I ask unanimous consent that statements of support  for the bill from the AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, United Steelworkers, and the Alliance for American Manufacturing be entered into the record.

Thank you and I yield back.