[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 178 (Tuesday, December 3, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H6216-H6219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECTING AMERICAN INDUSTRY AND LABOR FROM INTERNATIONAL TRADE CRIMES
ACT OF 2024
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 9151) to strengthen the Department of Justice's enforcement
against trade-related crimes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 9151
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting American Industry
and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. TRADE-RELATED CRIMES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``trade-related crimes'' shall be
defined as violations of law that are implicated by criminal
activities in furtherance of the evasion of duties, tariffs,
and other import- and export-related fees, import and export
restrictions, or requirements imposed by the Tariff Act of
1930, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Trade Act of 1974,
or the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions
Act, as well as all other laws and regulations involving
criminal activities relating to United States imports and
exports, trade-based money laundering, and smuggling.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW STRUCTURE TO PROSECUTE
INTERNATIONAL TRADE CRIMES.
(a) In General.--A task force, named program, or other
similar structure to investigate and prosecute trade-related
crimes, with particular emphasis on violations of the
statutes enumerated in section 4(a)(2), shall be established
within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice not
later than 120 days after the date on which appropriations
are made available to carry out this Act, and coordinated by
a supervisory criminal trial attorney selected by the
Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division or other
official designated by the Attorney General.
(b) Implementation.--To support this effort, the Attorney
General shall--
(1) create within the Criminal Division of the Department
of Justice new positions for criminal trial attorneys and
associated support personnel responsible for leading and
coordinating trade-related crime investigations and cases,
including those that may significantly impact more than one
district;
(2) ensure that experienced and technically qualified
criminal prosecutors support the effort; and
(3) promote and ensure effective interaction with law
enforcement, industry representatives, and the public in
matters relating to trade-related crimes.
SEC. 4. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF NEW TRADE CRIMES STRUCTURE.
(a) In General.--Through the efforts of the task force,
named program, or other structure identified in section 3(a),
the Attorney General shall accomplish each of the following:
(1) Increase the capabilities and capacity of the Criminal
Division of the Department of Justice to prosecute trade-
related crimes.
(2) Increase the number of trade-related crimes being
investigated and prosecuted, including pursuant to health,
safety, financial, and economic trade-related crimes,
including--
(A) section 305 of title 13, United States Code;
(B) section 15 or 16 of the Toxic Substances Control Act
(15 U.S.C. 2614 or 2615);
(C) section 371 of title 18, United States Code;
(D) section 541 of title 18, United States Code;
(E) section 542 of title 18, United States Code;
(F) section 543 of title 18, United States Code;
(G) section 545 of title 18, United States Code;
(H) section 546 of title 18, United States Code;
(I) section 554 of title 18, United States Code;
(J) section 1001 of title 18, United States Code;
(K) section 1341 of title 18, United States Code;
(L) section 1343 of title 18, United States Code;
(M) section 1349 of title 18, United States Code;
(N) section 1956 of title 18, United States Code;
(O) section 1957 of title 18, United States Code;
(P) section 2320 of title 18, United States Code; and
(Q) section 301 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
(21 U.S.C. 331).
For the purposes of this Act, this list does not include
violations of national security-related laws and regulations,
including the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2771 et
seq.), International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1701 et seq.), Export Control and Reform Act (50 U.S.C. 4801
et seq.), and the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C.
4305(b)).
(3) Participate in basic and advanced training events with
Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, and other Federal agencies and provide technical
assistance, where appropriate, to Homeland Security
Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other
Federal agencies with respect to the investigation and
prosecution of trade-related crimes.
(4) Develop multi-jurisdictional responses and partnerships
with respect to trade-related crimes through informational,
administrative, and technological support to other Federal
agencies and agencies of countries that are trading partners
of the United States, as a means for such agencies to acquire
the necessary knowledge, personnel, and specialized equipment
to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes.
(5) Participate in nationally coordinated investigations in
any case in which the Attorney General determines such
participation to be necessary, as permitted by the available
resources of the Department of Justice.
(6) Ensure that all components that enforce laws against
trade-related crimes regularly consult with each other.
(b) Absence of Exclusion of Pursuing Other Remedies.--
Litigation by the Criminal Division of the Department of
Justice shall not preclude additional criminal prosecution or
civil action against trade-related violations. Nothing in
this Act shall prevent the Criminal Division, Civil Division,
and other Department of Justice components from pursuing
enforcement action where appropriate.
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of
Homeland Security, shall submit to the Committee on the
Judiciary, Committee on Ways and Means, and Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives, and the
Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Finance of the
Senate a report on the work of the Department of Justice with
respect to investigation and enforcement of trade-related
crimes. Specifically, the report shall--
(1) be submitted not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, not later
than February 1 of each year that begins after the submission
of the first report;
(2) include annual statistics on the volume of publicly
charged trade-related crimes and indictments;
(3) include a summary on how the funds appropriated for
trade-related crimes were utilized in the prior reporting
period, including staff and operating expenses; and
(4) provide an estimate of any additional funding needed to
combat trade-related crimes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Hunt) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
insert extraneous material on H.R. 9151.
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The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, U.S. trade policy is a vital tool to protect American
businesses and workers, ensure American competitiveness, and achieve
our foreign policy objectives.
For U.S. trade policy to be effective, we have to actually enforce
the laws implemented in the United States' policy. H.R. 9151 would
establish the structure needed at the Department of Justice to go after
criminals who perpetrate trade crimes.
{time} 1500
These crimes include trade fraud, tariff and duty evasion, illegal
smuggling, trade-based money laundering, trafficking in counterfeit
goods, and many more.
Today, criminal enterprises and bad actors, predominantly based in
the People's Republic of China, are breaking U.S. trade laws with
impunity. This fraud has seriously undermined our trade policy.
Additionally, in just fiscal year 2023, U.S. authorities seized over
$2.7 billion of counterfeit goods, with the PRC accounting for more
than 80 percent of those seizures. Those seizures reflect billions of
dollars stolen from U.S. businesses and workers, which undermines the
trade policies designed to protect them.
In the past 2 years, law enforcement has also identified $750 million
worth of goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in
the Xinjiang and Uyghur autonomous region. These goods carry
significant risk of having been produced by forced labor and are
illegal to import into the United States.
We must do more to punish the criminals who are breaking our trade
laws and inflicting serious harm on our economy. H.R. 9151 will enable
the DOJ to dedicate specialized personnel to investigate and prosecute
the perpetrators of these crimes.
I thank all the sponsors for their hard work, as well as the hard
work by the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the
United States and the Chinese Communist Party to put together this
excellent legislation.
I also thank the Judiciary Committee for bipartisan efforts that led
to this bill being reported by voice vote, demonstrating that we can
work across party lines to advance trade policies that protect
Americans.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 9151 and
give teeth to our trade policies. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 9151. This legislation would
create a task force within the Department of Justice to increase the
prosecution of trade-related crimes.
Although DOJ already has dedicated personnel to enforce laws
protecting Americans from illegal products, limited funding prevents
prosecutors from doing more.
Americans are protected from trade crimes by a patchwork of national
security laws, including the Tariff Act of 1930, the Toxic Substances
Control Act, and many others. These studies protect against a wide
variety of crimes that impact the health, safety, and financial
security of Americans, from the importation of counterfeit goods to the
commission of trade secret theft through economic espionage.
We have all heard stories about the most egregious cases: exploding
counterfeit batteries that cause e-cigarettes to maim users, computer
chips equipped with spyware in our product stream that endanger
military secrets, handbags made with forced Uyghur labor passed off as
fair-trade materials. These are terrible outcomes with clear victims,
and United States law enforcement should ensure these cases never
happen again.
Other trade crimes may not have a clear victim or a defined
perpetrator, but they are equally pernicious. For example, cyber
intrusions can risk a company's trade secrets without their knowledge.
They may never become aware of the data leak, but a foreign competitor
can use the intellectual property to unfairly compete with the targeted
company.
Counterfeit products that look identical to a brand's trademark can
cause irreparable damage to a small business or designer. Victims can
suffer reputational damage, lose the opportunity to break into a
specific market, and otherwise lose revenue that would have gone to
them.
The deluge of counterfeits and the unique way trade crimes are
perpetrated have made it increasingly difficult for prosecutors at the
Department of Justice to enforce our laws. H.R. 9151 would help the
government prevent trade loss by creating a task force to identify,
investigate, and prosecute crimes that hurt Americans in every
industry.
This legislation has been a bipartisan effort, and I thank my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the select committee on China,
the Appropriations Committee, and the Judiciary Committee for creating
carefully negotiated legislation that, if properly funded, would help
the Department of Justice better pursue their objectives.
Without such funding, however, the myriad investigators, prosecutors,
and support staff envisioned for the task force will never be hired.
You cannot increase trade crime enforcement without increasing the
number of prosecutors working on the issue, and you cannot increase the
number of staff handling trade crimes without more funding.
Over and over again, I have heard my colleagues across the aisle call
for Congress to defund agencies across the Federal Government,
especially the Department of Justice, yet in the same breath they ask
them to do more to protect Americans. You cannot withhold funding from
agencies that keep us safe and then act surprised when they do not have
enough people to do the job.
I sincerely hope we commit dedicated appropriations to this program
and all aspects of DOJ in the days and months ahead. I support this
legislation, and I support funding this legislation. I encourage my
colleagues to vote ``yes'' when it comes to a vote.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Iowa (Mrs. Hinson).
Mrs. HINSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, the
Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes
Act. This bill puts American industry, American manufacturing, and
American workers first.
For decades, companies operating under the control of the Chinese
Communist Party in the People's Republic of China have systematically
violated U.S. trade laws.
The CCP's illicit trade practices, including duty evasion,
transshipment, market flooding, forced labor, and fraud, are
deliberately designed to take advantage of American workers and
businesses, lowering wages, forcing manufacturers to close their doors,
and gutting our rural manufacturing towns.
For example, the select committee on China uncovered trade fraud by
Chinese auto manufacturer Qingdao Sunsong. Sunsong was using
transshipment to evade U.S. tariffs, forcing an Illinois company to lay
off a quarter of their workforce.
Sunsong is far from the only Chinese company taking action to exploit
our trade system to bolster China's nonmarket economy, crippling
American industry and manufacturing, threatening workers' wages and
livelihoods, and enabling slave labor.
However, despite the sheer volume of trade-related crime, the
Department of Justice remains inadequately equipped to effectively
detect, investigate, and then prosecute such offenses.
While tariffs are one tool in our toolkit to level that playing
field, we also must enforce our trade laws and hold China accountable
for repeated violations that have a catastrophic impact on American
workers and American industry.
By strengthening the Trump DOJ's ability to detect and prosecute
international trade crimes, my bipartisan bill will ensure that
Communist China and other perpetrators are criminally liable for
illicit activity and that those penalties are properly enforced. This
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will help to reshore domestic manufacturing and provide opportunities
for our American workers.
I am also very proud to have the support of the China select
committee chairman, Chairman Moolenaar, and Ranking Member
Krishnamoorthi on this bill. I deeply appreciate their partnership and
collaboration on this. I also thank Chairman Jordan and Ranking Member
Nadler for their support of this key bill on the Judiciary Committee.
To close, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and
support American workers in the process.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 9151.
For years, the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, has violated U.S.
trade laws flagrantly and victimized American workers, companies, and
consumers through trade crimes like dumping, transshipment, duty
evasion, and fraud.
In fact, there is an entire CCP-sponsored industry that publicly
boasts it can help Chinese products illegally flood U.S. markets
despite American antidumping protections. These criminal activities
have forced far too many American companies to shutter their doors and
countless American workers to lose their jobs.
Our bipartisan bill establishes a new unit at the DOJ to criminally
prosecute these crimes, whether it is dumping below-market iron and
steel, flooding our market with illegal vapes, or violating the Uyghur
Forced Labor Prevention Act, this new DOJ unit will send a clear
message that these illegal and criminal trade practices must end now.
As ranking member of the Select Committee on the CCP, I have been
proud to work with my colleagues across the aisle on this legislation.
I thank Chairman Moolenaar, Mrs. Hinson, my own staff, including Ben
Frohman, who has put in yeoman hours on this bill, as well as Ranking
Member Nadler and Ranking Member Johnson for their support on the
Judiciary Committee.
I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and the
Senate to fully fund this legislation and make sure it is signed into
law in this Congress before the new administration takes office.
American workers and manufacturers depend on it.
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Moolenaar).
Mr. MOOLENAAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of
Congresswoman Hinson's bill, the Protecting American Industry and Labor
from International Trade Crimes Act.
Today, Chinese companies habitually violate U.S. trade laws. They go
around our country's tariffs, and this harms U.S. manufacturers,
undermines our workers, and diminishes American competitiveness.
Last August, during a roundtable in Wisconsin, the Select Committee
on the CCP heard from Americans across industries on how Chinese
companies are breaking the law and decimating their operations. It is
clear from these testimonies that the civil penalties rarely imposed on
companies caught circumventing U.S. trade laws were not enough to stop
CCP-sponsored trade fraud.
Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi, Congresswoman Hinson, and the
bipartisan members of the select committee recommended last year that
Congress pass legislation to criminally enforce trade crimes as a true
deterrent to the CCP's coordinated economic coercion.
Today's legislation takes that recommendation and turns it into
action. We have solicited feedback from industry, worked closely with
the Department of Justice, and coordinated with the standing committees
here in the House to develop this robust legislation before us today.
As the House considers this bill, I am committed to working with my
colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to ensure the prosecutors
hired to criminally enforce our trade laws are fully funded. In the
face of China's economic onslaught against our country, we must ensure
those prosecutors have the resources they need to enforce tariffs,
protect American workers, and stop the CCP from taking advantage of the
United States.
I again thank Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi and also Representative
Hinson for their leadership and for working with committee staff on
this key bill. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and
support American manufacturing.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey).
Mr. IVEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 9151, the
Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes
Act.
As the complexities of international trade intensify, abusive
practices and circumvention of trade rules escalate commensurately.
Trade crimes impair our economy, disadvantage our workers, disrespect
our consumers, and offend our national sensibilities.
To halt these practices, we must reinforce America's capacity to
identify, investigate, and interdict these crimes and empower the
Department of Justice to prosecute the perpetrators.
{time} 1515
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to co-lead and be an original cosponsor
of H.R. 9151, which is bipartisan legislation that would achieve these
objectives.
I commend my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Representatives
Hinson, Krishnamoorthi, Moolenaar, and all the other co-leads and
cosponsors, for joining together to confront this challenge.
I especially appreciate my colleagues' receptivity to my suggestions
about the trade crime unit's structure, concentrating on a national
team based at Main Justice with the ability to deploy experts, as
needed, to ports of entry around the country where trade crimes are
occurring.
By focusing resources at Main Justice, we will expand our core
competencies in confronting these crimes nationwide so that we will
retain the upper hand, even if perpetrators redirect their activities
to a different location in the United States.
This bill would establish a trade crimes unit at DOJ to take aim
against a litany of crimes that are prevalent in international trade,
including crimes resulting from products made by use of forced labor,
sellers abusing the de minimis exemption, foreign exporters evading
duties and tariffs by shipping products through third-party nations,
and products that violate safety and health rules.
By creating and funding a trade crimes unit at DOJ, this bill would
equip our country with expert investigators and attorneys who are
dedicated to safeguarding our people, our jobs, and our economy.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
to support this important legislation.
Mr. HUNT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am
prepared to close.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of
my time.
Over the last year, the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on
Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet has held multiple
bipartisan subcommittee hearings regarding the IP and trade crimes
threat posed by the Chinese Government. Witnesses have testified about
the flood of trade crimes and the inability of our government's limited
resources to prevent, detect, and prosecute violations of the law.
This legislation, if adequately funded, would help address these
concerns. It is a small step in the right direction, but it will be a
significant step nonetheless, so long as we complete the puzzle by
properly funding the program through the appropriations process.
Mr. Speaker, I intend to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 9151, and I encourage
my colleagues to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kean of New Jersey). The question is on
the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hunt) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 9151, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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