The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security would be prohibited from procuring batteries made by six companies owned and operated in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under legislation recently cosponsored by U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and August Pfluger (R-TX).
“American tax dollars should never be used to further the Chinese Communist Party’s hopes to dominate key technologies at our expense,” said Rep. Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“I am proud to support this legislation, which builds upon prior work to reduce American dependence on China by barring the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] from procuring batteries from six Chinese companies,” said Rep. Pfluger, who serves on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee. “It is imperative that we reduce reliance on the CCP and secure our supply chains to strengthen the homeland.”
The congressmen are among three GOP original cosponsors of the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act of 2024, H.R. 8631, which U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) sponsored on June 5 to help advance efforts to decouple the United States’ supply chain from China, according to a statement released by the Select Committee on the CCP.
H.R. 8631 resembles a provision signed into law in the previous National Defense Authorization Act that prevents the U.S. Department of Defense from procuring batteries from CCP companies, according to the committee.
“I am proud to co-lead the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, which would stop the Department of Homeland Security from using American taxpayer dollars to purchase Gotion, CATL, or other Chinese batteries,” Rep. Moolenaar said. “Our military has already banned these batteries and DHS should do the same.”
According to the text of the bill, the specified entities from which DHS could not buy batteries would be: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., also known as CATL; BYD Co., Ltd.; Envision Energy Ltd.; EVE Energy Co., Ltd.; Gotion High Tech Co., Ltd.; Hithium Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd.; and any of these companies’ successors.
The House Homeland Security Committee marked up and approved H.R. 8631 on June 12 and the bill now awaits floor action by the U.S. House of Representatives.