Rep. Michael McCaul
A bipartisan bill offered on Nov. 9 by U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) would prohibit American investments in technologies and products made by countries of concern and would require White House notification to the public regarding such activities.
“This bill will help ensure there are vital restrictions and enhanced transparency on outbound investment to safeguard America,” Rep. McCaul said. “The U.S. investment of today should not fund the Chinese Communist Party hypersonic program of today or tomorrow.”
Rep. McCaul sponsored the Preventing Adversaries from Developing Critical Capabilities Act, H.R. 6349, with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Specifically, H.R. 6349 would require that categories of technologies and products in specific industry sectors be identified if they may pose an acute threat to the national security of the U.S. when developed or acquired by a country of concern, according to the bill’s text.
Among several provisions, H.R. 6349 also would require that the identified list of categories of technologies and products be published in the Federal Register and that the President of the United States annually review and update the list.
Then, on or after the date on when the initial list is published in the Federal Register, the president would have to “prescribe, subject to public notice and comment, regulations to prohibit a United States person from engaging, directly or indirectly, in a covered activity involving a category of technologies and products on such list,” states the bill.
The measure builds on the Biden administration’s executive order “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern,” according to Rep. McCaul’s staff.
“We know Beijing is developing technological capabilities with the intent to endanger our national security, and U.S. dollars should not help those efforts,” said Rep. McCaul. “Our bill applies outbound investment restrictions to Russia, Iran, and North Korea in addition to the People’s Republic of China, and expands the technology sectors covered by the Biden administration’s executive order to include hypersonics and high-performance computing.”