The SHIELD Against CCP Act received broad bipartisan support in the House in a Dec. 10 vote.
The House passed a bill on Dec. 10 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to form a new working group within the department to track national security threats posed by the People’s Republic of China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Dubbed the “Strategic Homeland Intelligence and Enforcement Legislation to Defend Against the CCP Act,” or SHIELD Against CCP Act, the bill calls for a new DHS working group to track ways the CCP may be exploiting U.S. border, port, transportation, and cyber security vulnerabilities.
The group would also be tasked with tracking how the CCP exploits economic and trade policies to undermine the United States.
In addition to identifying vulnerabilities, the bill tasks the working group with identifying policy gaps and facilitating inter-department cooperation to help the DHS more effectively respond to the threats the CCP poses to U.S. national security.
House lawmakers voted 409–4 to suspend the House rules and pass the bill. The bill’s passage required a two-thirds majority in the House.
“It is our duty in Congress to ensure the safety and well-being of our great nation, and we must not ignore the increasing aggression and influence of China on the global stage,” Rep. Dale Strong (R-Ala.), the bill’s House sponsor, said in a floor speech ahead of the Tuesday night vote.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), who worked with Strong to introduce the bill, said the bipartisan effort marked an important repudiation of the CCP. Suozzi said the CCP fuels division in the United States by playing up the opposing extremes of numerous cultural and political debates throughout the country.
“The fact that today we are promoting bipartisan legislation is our greatest possible response,” Suozzi said.
Ahead of the vote, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister outlet, that China’s ruling communist regime is bent on undermining the United States by any means it can find. He said the SHIELD Against CCP Act would provide valuable recommendations for strengthening U.S. national security.
Mast said, “China wants to export their brand of communism across the globe and do that to their benefit and see America topple.”
In doing so, he said Beijing has allies, such as Iran, “that would be happy to make sure that that takes place.”
Some lawmakers said the bill describes a working group that the DHS should’ve already put in place.
“I certainly think it is an appropriate focus for the Department of Homeland Security and one that should have been undertaken, really without legislative action,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) told NTD.
Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) cast the four no votes. They did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
The bill’s House passage comes with just days left in the legislative calendar, with the House and Senate still undecided on what to do when the current round of government funding runs out on Dec. 20. It remains to be seen if the Senate will have the time or impetus to pass the SHIELD Against CCP Act before this session of Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2025.
Melina Wisecup contributed to this report.