Lawmakers introduce bill to cover cost of ditching China-linked telecom equipment

A House bill would provide billions for rural telecommunications companies to replace telecom equipment from Chinese Communist Party-linked tech giants over spying concerns. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Defend Our Networks Act, which would provide $3.08 billion in unobligated COVID-19 emergency funding to pay for a deluge of applications to the Federal Communications Commission’s “Rip and Replace Program.” 

That program was meant to fund the tearing out and replacement of communications equipment from Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE, two of the five companies designated by the federal government as posing a threat to national security for their links to the CCP. 

Established in 2020, the program has received 126 applications from rural telecom companies that it can not afford to honor. The legislation would make up for that shortfall in funding. 

Rep. Ashley Hinson, Iowa Republican, introduced the legislation with Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chair Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican, and committee ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Democrat.

Mrs. Hinson said that Chinese tech is prevalent in communications networks throughout the country and gives “backdoor access to Americans’ personal information and sensitive data.”

“If communication flows through Huawei or ZTE equipment, it should be treated as if it is being downloaded back to a server in Beijing with a full access pass for the CCP regime,” Mrs. Hinson said.

Roughly 24,000 pieces of equipment from these companies are scattered throughout the country’s rural communications networks. 

The Biden administration banned the purchase of new equipment from the companies last year, citing “an unacceptable risk” to national security. The FCC has also prohibited the use of agency funds to expand or maintain telecom networks that have equipment from Huawei or ZTE, and has ordered companies to rip out equipment from the Chinese firms. 

“There are thousands of pieces of risky Chinese telecommunications equipment in U.S. networks and it’s imperative we act with a sense of urgency to remove them,” Mr. Gallagher said.