Tom Cole

Mr. COLE

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), my very good friend.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Gallagher), who is the chairman-designate of the proposed select committee.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Zinke), my very good friend.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 11.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Waltz), my very good friend and distinguished veteran in service to the United States and now in the Congress of the United States.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mills), my very good friend who also has rendered distinguished service to our country in uniform.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, as the designee of the majority leader, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up H. Res. 11, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the distinguished Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 11, a resolution Establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. This select committee will be charged with addressing the urgent threat to the United States and our allies posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Speaker, the ongoing threat posed by Communist China and the fact that the CCP cannot be trusted as a global party has been apparent to the American people for some time. In 2019, at the behest of then-Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans created the China Task Force to review Communist China's actions and to make policy recommendations to protect U.S. interests against the Chinese Communist Party. Republicans sought to make this task force bipartisan and extended an open invitation to Democrats to join us. Unfortunately, House Democrats chose not to participate at that time. I hope they do at this time. The China Task Force ultimately produced a report with more than 400 policy recommendations, many of them bipartisan. Today, we are taking the next logical step with the creation of a select committee empowered to investigate and respond to the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat that threatens our very way of life. Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated time and time again that it is more interested in being America's foe than America's friend. The events of the past 3 years have brought into stark focus how Communist China's actions affect the United States and the rest of the world. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began inside China's borders, the world has experienced constant disruptions and chaos. Indeed, Communist China's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic is emblematic of its approach to many other things: attempting to cover up the pandemic's existence, resisting all efforts to investigate its origins, committing horrific human rights abuses, and refusing to work productively with the global community to combat the pandemic. It has also become apparent that far too many economically critical supply chains are tied to China, which threatens our economic and national security. We are dangerously dependent on China for basic building blocks of our economy. The result is shortages of critical products, like semiconductors and rare earth minerals, both of which are largely produced in China today, along with the shortages of pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment, which threatens our ability to battle future pandemics. Our national and economic security requires us to secure our vulnerable supply chains and, indeed, to bring them back home to America. Communist China has also undertaken aggressive actions designed to expand their influence both in the United States and abroad. Communist China is a prolific thief of American intellectual property, violating countless patents, and failing to respect international and domestic intellectual property laws. They have undertaken a systematic effort to infiltrate American colleges and universities through their support of the so-called Confucius Institutes and other organizations designed to spread Chinese propaganda. Chinese spy networks operate both on American soil and in cyberspace. And popular Chinese-owned apps like TikTok spread more propaganda and take massive amounts of Americans' personal data back to the Chinese Government. In addition, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative has spread the tentacles of the so-called People's Liberation Army throughout the world, particularly the developing world, and has ensnared dozens of developing countries in debt-trap diplomacy. Communist China continues to aggressively push into the South China Sea and militarize small islands, threatening freedom of navigation in this strategically important region. They relentlessly and aggressively provoke Taiwan, an island that demonstrates to the world what a free, democratic, and capitalist China could look like. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is Communist China is a serious, generational threat that we must address before it is too late. China exhibits expanding economic and military power coupled with the uncompromising rejection of our values and those of our allies. That is why the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party is so critical. It will be charged with reviewing our economic dependence on China and restoring safe and secure supply chains, on reviewing China's actions toward the United States and our allies, on restoring American domestic institutions to protect them against Chinese infiltration and propaganda, and so much more. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members on both sides of the aisle to join me in support of this resolution so we can stand united against Communist China. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I begin by thanking my friend for the debate and for his tremendous work in holding China accountable in the human rights area. I am certainly confident the Speaker will do as he said, and we will have a committee both sides can be proud of. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution creating a Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. It is beyond dispute that Communist China poses an urgent generational threat to the United States' interests and values. America has become far too economically dependent on China in recent decades, and as a result, our supply chains have become dangerously fragile. We must urgently take steps to secure our supply chains and bring them home. The Chinese Communist Party continues to push the envelope, both in the United States and abroad. They steal American intellectual property. They build spy networks and propaganda machines on American soil. They threaten our allies in Asia and the South China Sea. They have spread their influence throughout the developing world, seeking to ensnare vulnerable developing countries in debt-trap diplomacy. Mr. Speaker, the time has come for the House of Representatives to take a comprehensive look at Communist China. We must build on the excellent work done by the China Task Force in 2019 and 2020. We must investigate China's actions and respond appropriately to ensure America confronts this very grave threat. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote ``yes'' on this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), my very good friend and a distinguished Member.

Mr. COLE

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), who is my very good friend and the distinguished incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 12.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner), my very good friend and the distinguished incoming chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Zinke), my very good friend and a distinguished veteran who served the United States in a variety of capacities, in and out of uniform.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer), my very good friend, the incoming chairman of the Oversight Committee.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert), my very good friend.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Colorado.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Bishop).

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 12, a resolution establishing the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. This select subcommittee is modeled on the famous Church Committee, which investigated the American intelligence community in the 1970s and uncovered and exposed a wide variety of abuses, including many directed against American citizens. Similar to the situation that confronted America in the 1970s, in recent years we have witnessed abuses of the civil liberties of American citizens committed by the executive branch. The select subcommittee will operate as a select investigative subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee and will be tasked with studying and reporting on the executive branch's authority to collect information on or otherwise investigate citizens of the United States. It will investigate how executive branch agencies work with and exchange information with the private sector and other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens; how executive branch agencies collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States; the laws, programs, and activities of the executive branch as they relate to the collection of information on citizens of the United States; and any other issues related to the violation of the civil liberties of American citizens. Mr. Speaker, it is undeniable that, in recent years, the executive branch of the Federal Government has abused its authority and violated the civil liberties of American citizens, often for political purposes. There are many examples to point to, ranging from a father being labeled a ``domestic terrorist'' for confronting a school board over the sexual assault of his daughter, to the Federal Government's role in suppressing information on Twitter, to the Department of Homeland Security's plans to create a Disinformation Governance Board, and to the revelations regarding the FBI's abuse of its Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act authority. All these examples and many more demonstrate how prevalent such abusive actions have become. Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve to have confidence in their government. They deserve to know that the broad powers granted through the Federal Government to the FBI, to the Department of Homeland Security, and to the intelligence agencies are not being abused. They deserve to know that the executive branch is not positioning itself as the final arbiter of what constitutes truth. They deserve to know that they will not be labeled a domestic terrorist for advocating for their children in front of a school board. Mr. Speaker, it was Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who stated that ``sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.'' At the end of the day, that is the purpose of the select subcommittee. It will bring abuses by the Federal Government into the light for the American people and ensure that Congress, as their elected representatives, can take appropriate action to remedy them. I have confidence that this select subcommittee will accomplish that goal. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.