House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took an obvious swipe at Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California reportedly being targeted by a Chinese spy while arguing against the House Democrats’ bill that aims to boost U.S. manufacturing and competition with China.
The House this week is considering the America COMPETES Act, which would provide $52 billion to increase U.S. semiconductor chip production and $45 billion for a program to make supply chains more resilient, among other provisions. It is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s version of the Innovation and Competition Act, a Senate China competitiveness bill that passed with bipartisan support in June 2021.
House Republicans, who were reportedly blocked from the negotiations on the 2,900-page bill, are whipping votes against it. A memo from the Republican Study Committee called the bill the “America CONCEDES Act.”
Among Republicans’ objections is that new carve-outs to visa programs do not include limits on the number of Chinese nationals who can utilize that program and that it does not ban federal funding for universities that host Confucius Institutes. Members of Congress have long warned that the Chinese language and culture centers can facilitate Chinese espionage and influence operations.
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Speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, McCarthy said Confucius Institutes are “essentially CCP propaganda centers.”
He then referenced Swalwell being targeted by a Chinese spy, without naming him.
“Could you imagine, would they go as far and as deep to even meet somebody and spy on them when they’re in the city council? Would they develop a friendship through a college, like we see here, Confucius — maybe help if the city councilperson wanted to run for Congress?” McCarthy said.
He took a swipe at Democratic House leadership for keeping Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee even after knowing he was targeted by a spy.
Fang Fang or Christine Fang, the alleged spy, conducted the political influence operation between 2011 and 2015. She attended California State University, started targeting Swalwell in 2012 when he was a councilman in Dublin, California, and reportedly helped with fundraising activity. Swalwell has said he provided information about her to the FBI and that congressional leadership knew about the targeting.
“Could it go this far, that this person that got elected to Congress, maybe just in their second term, to get on one of the most influential committees, the intel committee? Could they go that far?” McCarthy said. “But if leadership was warned about it, instantly, that member probably wouldn’t be on a committee where they could hear the most secret — that members here don’t get to know. Surely that person would not still be on that committee.”
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McCarthy then referenced his pledge to kick Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee if Republicans take back the House and he becomes speaker.
“What if that member even wanted to run for president after that? That would be shocking to me,” McCarthy said. “Maybe that person could become a subcommittee chair on the intel committee. That couldn’t happen in America. I just know with new leadership it won’t be allowed.”
