[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5565 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5565
To require a report regarding the scope of efforts by the People's
Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party to utilize the Belt and
Road Initiative to undermine the United States-led international world
order and a detailed strategy regarding how the United States
Government intends to counter such Initiative, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 19, 2023
Mr. Fitzgerald (for himself, Mr. Hern, and Mr. Nunn of Iowa) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a report regarding the scope of efforts by the People's
Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party to utilize the Belt and
Road Initiative to undermine the United States-led international world
order and a detailed strategy regarding how the United States
Government intends to counter such Initiative, and for other purposes.
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 ``Build Responsible Infrastructure
Development for the Global Economy Act'' or the ``BRIDGE Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Chinese government's Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI), enshrined in the CCP's constitution, is a comprehensive,
long-term economic development strategy founded by General
Secretary and President Xi Jinping to link regions worldwide
through multi-billion infrastructure projects. The CCP utilizes
the BRI's informal framework as a vehicle to establish a
Sinocentric world order based on its authoritarian model of
governance.
(2) The BRI poses immediate and long-term risks to the
national security, economic security, and international
influence of the United States and our partners by giving the
PRC the ability to project power more widely in geostrategic
regions such as the Indo-Pacific. The BRI, covering countries
representing over half of the world's population and over one-
third of global economic output, seeks to pull nations into
Beijing's geopolitical orbit.
(3) Despite the BRI's well-documented scope and
consequences, the United States Government has never formalized
an official view or strategy to counter its efforts. This puts
our national security objectives at a severe disadvantage as
Beijing seeks to leverage its regional inroads worldwide
through the BRI and other PRC-alternative institutions to
achieve global preeminence.
(4) The United States should not underestimate the
significance of the BRI and establish a coherent, government-
wide strategy that effectively seeks to counter Beijing's
economic and political scope and influence through the BRI.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to counter efforts by the
People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
to create an integrated economic and political order under its
leadership, which continues to threaten the national security, foreign
policy, and economy of the United States
(a) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination
with the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant Federal
departments and agencies, shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report that includes the following:
(1) Information relating to the scope of efforts by the
People's Republic of China (PRC) and Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) to utilize the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to
undermine the United States-led international world order.
(2) Information relating to the means and objectives of the
PRC and the CCP in using the BRI as a vehicle to create a
parallel order of alternative PRC-centric organizations.
(3) An assessment of current United States Government tools
and strategies to counter the BRI.
(4) A detailed strategy regarding how the Department of
State, the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and the Department of Commerce intend to coordinate
its resources to counter the BRI. Such strategy shall include
the following elements:
(A) A description of interagency efforts to counter
the BRI, together with recommendations on how to
bolster the United States Government's economic
competition against China.
(B) An assessment of past efforts by the United
States Government to mitigate the effects of BRI, as
well as the gaps in current United States Government
policy and implementation.
(C) A timeline that holds the United States
Government accountable in planning and executing such
strategy.
(D) A strategic roadmap that details how the United
States Government will link such strategy to broader
national security priorities and objectives, including
the National Security Strategy and the National Defense
Strategy.
(E) A description that elaborates how the United
States Government will align strategic planning and
coordination with key allies and partners to
effectively respond to the BRI, particularly in the
Indo-Pacific.
(b) Implementation Plan.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with
the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant Federal
departments and agencies, shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a plan for implementing the strategy described in subsection
(a)(4), including the following:
(1) A description of clearly defined program metrics,
goals, targets, and planned outcomes for such strategy.
(2) A plan to monitor and evaluate such strategy, and
progress made toward achieving such goals, targets, and planned
outcomes.
(3) A plan to ensure such strategy is promoting United
States foreign policy goals in the Indo-Pacific by offering a
positive vision for shared economic and infrastructure growth
in a free and open international order.
(c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted
in unclassified form but may include a classified annex if necessary.
The unclassified portion of such report shall be made available on a
publicly available internet website of the Federal Government.
(d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives and
(2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on
Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.
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