On Wednesday, September 25th, United States Senator introduced a series of anti-Communist bills aimed at comprehensively curbing the influences and infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on American society.
Senator Pete Ricketts, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, proposed five bills on September 25th to combat the CCP’s influence in the fields of agriculture and finance in the United States.
In a press release, Senator Ricketts stated, “The CCP poses the greatest threat to American national security and financial independence.”
He further emphasized, “A world dominated by the CCP would mean coercion over choice, tyranny over freedom, dictatorship over democracy. The only way to counter this threat is by taking strong, strategic, and government-wide measures. And these bills bring us closer to that goal.”
The five bipartisan bills proposed by Ricketts include: the Securing American Agriculture Act, Protecting Endowments from our Adversaries Act, The No Capital Gains Allowance for American Adversaries Act, The PRC Military and Human Rights Capital Markets Sanctions Act, and The No China in Index Funds Act.
The Securing American Agriculture Act aims to strengthen and protect the domestic food and agriculture supply chain, reducing America’s reliance on hostile nations. It requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Department of Commerce to annually assess threats to key food and agriculture supply chains, with the Agriculture Secretary providing recommendations to mitigate potential threats from the CCP.
The Protecting Endowments from our Adversaries Act seeks to restrain endowment funds from investing in entities deemed threats to national security by the U.S. government.
The No Capital Gains Allowance for American Adversaries Act aims to eliminate tax incentives for investments in companies based in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Belarus.
The PRC Military and Human Rights Capital Markets Sanctions Act aims to prevent Wall Street firms from using American investment funds to support CCP’s human rights violations and aggressive behaviors.
Moreover, The No China in Index Funds Act is designed to prevent index mutual funds from holding Chinese stocks by requiring such funds to divest from these investments within 180 days.
While U.S. senators have introduced anti-Communist bills, U.S. representatives in the House have also presented corresponding bills.
In tandem, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt introduced a bill to revoke the eligibility for F or J visas for CCP members and their families and to apply for visas for other purposes.
The F1 visa is the most common student visa for studying, while the J1 visa primarily targets exchange study programs.
Senator Schmitt told Fox News on Wednesday, “The CCP remains our primary adversary in military and economic realms. Continuing to educate CCP officials’ children and other family members in U.S. universities is senseless. We should reserve these over 100,000 admission quotas for American students.”
He added, “If you are associated with a foreign organization actively working to disrupt America, you should not continue to enjoy the privilege of receiving education on our university campuses. Fortunately, the Protecting Higher Education from CCP Influence Act has put an end to these privileges.”
In recent years, more and more Americans have become aware of the threats posed by the CCP to American society. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately half of Americans believe that curbing CCP’s influence should be a top priority in U.S. foreign policy.