House surge of bills to check China holds little chance of Senate action

House Republicans passed 28 bills last week with the aid of Democrats to counter the Chinese Communist Party, but the Democratic-run Senate is unlikely to act on their top priorities.

The House measures seek to combat China’s influence in U.S. agricultural land, educational institutions, intellectual property, the electric vehicle market and other areas.

“We are the last superpower on the earth,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican. “Because the White House has chosen not to confront China and stand for American interests, House Republicans will.”

Republicans, trying to draw a contrast with Democrats, highlighted five bills that received some bipartisan support but nowhere close to a majority of Democrats. The chances of the Senate taking up the bills are slim.

“More or less I’m on board with the message, but I doubt that they’re going to secure any real policymaking,” Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat who supported all the bills, told The Washington Times.

The White House opposed four bills and expressed reservations about the others. That only adds to the House Republicans’ hurdles, especially with only two legislative weeks remaining before the November elections and five after that before the current Congress ends.

Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he expects Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, to focus on funding the government before the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline.

“That’s top priority: no shutdown. So I think everything is going to be focused on that,” Mr. Kaine told The Times.

Mr. Schumer also announced an upcoming messaging vote on a measure that Republicans blocked in June to codify the right to fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization and impose coverage requirements on federal and private employer health care plans.

Of the five bills House Republicans prioritized, the one with the least White House resistance would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from funding higher education institutions that have suspicious dealings with China. It passed on a 249-161 vote, with three dozen Democrats joining all Republicans in support.

The White House said it “supports the intent” of the bill but thinks “there may be more appropriate ways” to accomplish it. The administration did not specify alternatives but said it would work with Congress to refine the bill.

A bill to provide oversight of agricultural land bought by foreign adversaries such as China received the most bipartisan support of the five. It passed on a 269-149 vote, with the support of 55 Democrats despite White House opposition.

The bill would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review and potentially block Chinese and other foreigners from buying farmland if they pose a national security risk.

The White House said the legislation is unnecessary because its two main requirements are already part of the CFIUS process and have been codified through the appropriations process.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Washington Republican who sponsored the bill, said he is pushing for permanent codification of the requirements beyond the appropriations process.

Either the White House misunderstands that, “or they’re just opposed to the idea,” he said. “The rationale, I think, is incorrect.”

A bill to establish the CCP Initiative within the Justice Department passed by a vote of 237-180. It would counter threats related to intellectual property and academic and research institutions and prosecute those who steal trade secrets and engage in espionage.

The bill had support from 23 Democrats despite strong White House opposition. It would establish an entity similar to the China Initiative, which the Justice Department disbanded in 2022.

The administration said the bill’s way of grouping targeted threats “could give rise to incorrect and harmful public perceptions that DOJ applies a different standard to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct related to the Chinese people or to American citizens of Chinese descent.”

A bill to prohibit electric vehicles with battery materials sourced from China from qualifying for federal tax credits passed in a closer 217-192 vote.

Seven Democrats joined all Republicans in criticizing the clean vehicle tax credits their party passed last Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act. That law already has strict eligibility requirements, and the White House said the Republican bill adds “unclear and unworkable” restrictions.

The measure “would disrupt the market, threaten the more than $175 billion in investments made to date” and ultimately raise prices for consumers, the administration said.

The bill with the lowest Democratic support was the least directly related to China. Only four Democrats joined Republicans in a 219-199 vote to make any World Health Organization agreement related to pandemic preparedness or prevention subject to ratification of two-thirds of the Senate before U.S. implementation.

The White House said the bill would constrain the president’s authority and undermine any administration’s authority to better protect the U.S. from public emergencies such as COVID-19.

The House passed 23 less-controversial China-related bills under a fast-track process known as suspension of the rules. This process requires two-thirds support to pass. All but three passed by voice vote.

The bills that passed without opposition in the House included measures to strengthen export controls and sanctions and limit Chinese influence over U.S. telecommunications infrastructure. If no senator objects, the Senate could pass the legislation by unanimous consent.

The other three bills that passed through the fast-track process had majority support from both parties and have a decent chance for action in the Senate.

A measure requiring the president to remove privileges and immunities from Hong Kong’s economic and trade offices in the U.S. if they are no longer running with a high degree of autonomy from China passed on a 413-3 vote.

A bill that would authorize appropriators to put up to $325 million annually through fiscal 2027 in a fund dedicated to countering “the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party and the Government of the People’s Republic of China and entities acting on their behalf globally” passed on a 351-36 vote.

The other measure, which passed by a vote of 306-81, would prohibit federal funds from flowing to biotechnology companies owned, operated or controlled by China. It specifically calls out five companies with extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party. That includes BGI, the world’s largest collector of genetic data, and its subsidiaries.