The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the United States in more ways than one. There have been over 865,000 total cases in all 50 states, with approximately 48,000 people nationwide dying from the disease. The economy has been walloped, with the last decade of growth wiped out in a few short months. About 27 million workers have filed for unemployment over the last month, and the Congressional Budget Office projects a $3.7 trillion deficit this year as lawmakers, stammering for a response, pass multiple relief measures to keep small businesses from collapsing.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington are beyond angry at the situation, and they want China to pay for the physical, psychological, social, and economic damage the coronavirus has wrought around the world over the last three months. There is a universal sentiment on Capitol Hill that the Chinese Communist Party not only failed the world by refusing to warn health agencies about the strength of the virus, but purposely covered up its initial response to the detriment of millions of people.
Lawmakers are circling Beijing like a wolf circles its prey: At least 21 China-related bills and resolutions have been filed since the beginning of March.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are either toothless or totally unworkable.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, wants the Trump administration to cancel $1 trillion in debt the U.S. owes to China as a form of reparations. How such a measure could even be done realistically and why it would serve U.S. interests to go delinquent on its own bills are treated as second-order considerations. Others, such as the state government in Missouri, are taking Beijing to court and suing the Chinese Communist Party for willful negligence, financial culpability, and emotional distress. Never mind that these legal maneuvers are highly incompatible with the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which protects foreign governments from litigation in the U.S. judicial system, or that they overlook the inevitable lawsuits China would file against U.S. entities in retaliation.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from upstate New York, introduced a resolution that would call on the international community to establish a commission led by public health officials to investigate China’s handling of the pandemic. This sounds great on paper (who, after all, doesn’t support accountability?) until you spend a few minutes on the particulars, such as which countries would serve on the commission, which would be excluded (COVID-19 has hit 180 different countries), and how the international community would be able to collect so-called compensation from the Chinese.
Sen. Rick Scott’s legislation prohibiting the U.S. government from purchasing personal protective equipment “sourced, manufactured, or assembled” from China looks like a smart idea too. The problem is that federal agencies would only have a year to prepare for such a prohibition. Then, there is the matter of the Chinese response: If the U.S. stops buying one product, what is stopping the Chinese from going a step further and refusing to sell other products to the U.S. market? What if some of those products, such as pharmaceutical ingredients, over-the-counter painkillers, or certain antibiotics, are integral to the health of ill patients in America?
Members of Congress are very effective at introducing so-called messaging bills, legislation that is designed more to burnish the reputation and aura of an individual lawmaker than to mitigate or solve a problem. Some bills are downright odd. See Rep. Louie Gohmert’s “Interstate Milk Freedom Act” or Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s proposal to punish cosmetic companies for mislabeling their products as “natural” for two of the more interesting examples.
China, though, is a serious issue. We aren’t talking about unpasteurized milk here, but rather an Asian superpower that has a ton of leverage it can use to hit the U.S. hard if it truly wanted to. This is time for sane, prudent ideas, not cockamamie politics as usual.
Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog. His opinions are his own.
