[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2660-S2661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 524. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2024 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle D of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1269. STRATEGY FOR COUNTERING THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA.
(a) Identification of Vulnerabilities and Leverage.--Not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate committees
of Congress a report that identifies--
(1) goods and services from the United States that are
relied on by the People's Republic of China such that that
reliance presents a strategic opportunity and source of
leverage against the People's Republic of China, including
during a conflict; and
(2) procurement practices of the United States Government
that are reliant on trade with the People's Republic of China
and other inputs from the People's Republic of China, such
that that reliance presents a strategic vulnerability and
source of leverage that the Chinese Communist Party could
exploit, including during a conflict.
(b) Strategy To Respond to Coercive Action.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the
submission of the report required by subsection (a), the
President shall submit to the appropriate committees of
Congress a report, utilizing the findings of the report
required by subsection (a), that describes a comprehensive
sanctions strategy to advise policymakers on policies the
United States and allies and partners of the United States
could adopt with respect to the People's Republic of China in
response to any coercive action, including an invasion, by
the People's Republic of China that infringes upon the
territorial sovereignty of Taiwan by preventing access to
international waterways, airspace, or telecommunications
networks.
(2) Elements.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) shall
include policies that--
(A) restrict the access of the People's Liberation Army to
oil, natural gas, munitions, and other supplies needed to
conduct military operations against Taiwan, United States
facilities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and allies and
partners of the United States in the region;
(B) diminish the capacity of the industrial base of the
People's Republic of China to manufacture and deliver defense
articles to replace those lost in operations of the People's
Liberation Army against Taiwan, the United States, and allies
and partners of the United States;
(C) inhibit the ability of the People's Republic of China
to evade United States and multilateral sanctions through
third parties, including through secondary sanctions;
(D) identify specific sanctions-related tools that may be
effective in responding to coercive action described in
paragraph (1) and assess the feasibility of the use and
impact of the use of those tools;
(E) identify and resolve potential impediments to
coordinating sanctions-related efforts with respect to
responding to or deterring aggression against Taiwan with
allies and partners of the United States;
(F) identify industries, sectors, or goods and services
with respect to which the United States, working with allies
and partners of the United States, can take coordinated
action through sanctions or other economic tools that will
have a significant negative impact on the economy of the
People's Republic of China; and
(G) identify tactics used by the Government of the People's
Republic of China to influence the public in the United
States and Taiwan through propaganda and disinformation
campaigns, including such campaigns focused on delegitimizing
Taiwan or legitimizing a forceful action by the People's
Republic of China against Taiwan.
(c) Recommendations for Reduction of Vulnerabilities and
Leverage.--Not later than 180 days after the submission of
the report required by subsection (a), the President shall
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report
that--
(1) identifies critical sectors within the United States
economy that rely on trade with the People's Republic of
China and other inputs from the People's Republic of China
(including active pharmaceutical ingredients, rare earth
minerals, and metallurgical inputs), such that those sectors
present a strategic vulnerability and source of leverage that
the Chinese Communist Party or the People's Republic of China
could exploit; and
(2) makes recommendations to Congress on steps that can be
taken to reduce the sources of leverage described in
paragraph (1) and subsection (a)(1), including through--
(A) provision of economic incentives and making other trade
and contracting reforms to support United States industry and
job growth in critical sectors and to indigenize production
of critical resources; and
(B) policies to facilitate ``near- or friend-shoring'', or
otherwise developing strategies to facilitate that process
with allies and partners of the United States, in other
sectors for which domestic reshoring would prove infeasible
for any reason.
[[Page S2661]]
(d) Form.--The reports required by subsections (a), (b),
and (c) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may
include a classified annex.
(e) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this
section, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
Armed Services, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the
Committee on Finance, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Armed Services, the Committee on Financial Services, the
Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Natural
Resources, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
of the House of Representatives.
(f) Rule of Construction on Maintaining One China Policy.--
Nothing in this section may be construed as a change to the
one China policy of the United States, which is guided by the
Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), the three
United States-People's Republic of China Joint Communiques,
and the Six Assurances.
(g) Rule of Construction Regarding Not Authorizing the Use
of Force.--Nothing in this section may be construed as
authorizing the use of military force.
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