House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) introduced a here designed to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from influencing the State Department.
The No CCP Consultants Act prohibits the secretary of state from engaging in “advisory and assistance services” with the governments of China and Russia.
The bill prohibits “certain contractors who have previously consulted for certain foreign entities or who fail to make disclosures relating to conflicts of interest that relate to national security or foreign policy from receiving contracts from the Department of State, and for other purposes.”
According to the bill, “The Secretary may not, after the date of the enactment of this Act, enter into, renew, or extend a contract with, or award a grant to, a covered consultancy.”
“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a direct threat to our national security. Through espionage and extensive intellectual property theft, the CCP and its network of state-sponsored enterprises have been able to steal our advanced technologies,” Green said in a press release. “Further, Communist China has its hand in our port cranes, our children’s phones through TikTok, land near military installations, our farmland, our supply chain, and the devaluation of the dollar.”
“My bill acts as a safeguard. The State Department handles diplomatic strategy, sensitive material, classified intelligence, and the data of millions of Americans through passports and visas. Any consultant or firm that has worked for an adversarial government should have a stop sign put in its way when it comes to being retained by the State Department. The stakes are too high. Allowing the CCP or other adversarial government consultants close proximity to the State Department is foolish.”
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Green said, “Anyone who has the CCP as a client better be aware of the kind of regime they’re getting into business with.”
“This regime regularly commits cyber attacks against the United States and does everything in its power to weaken us and our allies,” he continued. “The CCP has no qualms about spreading disinformation, propaganda, and outright lies. The kind of firm that wants to do business with the CCP should not be trusted to work for our State Department.”
