Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Lawmakers are gearing up to advance bills aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness against Beijing.
Why it matters: Countering China is one of the few areas Democrats and Republicans agree on.
- The recent, overwhelmingly bipartisan vote on the TikTok divestiture bill has emboldened lawmakers in the House who view consensus on China as an opportunity to get legislative work done.
- As Axios Pro Health Care Policy has reported, the House is planning a "China week," which Rep. Darin LaHood said will enable lawmakers to highlight how Beijing plays by a different set of rules.
Driving the news: A report released late last year by the House China Select Committee — which included the TikTok divestiture recommendation — will continue to guide lawmakers, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Axios.
- Scalise said he met with new Select Committee Chair John Moolenaar this week about his plans.
- "He's got a very aggressive plan to continue moving bills forward that have come from suggestions out of the task force to ultimately go through the authorizing committees."
- "So we're going to have more bills coming to the floor that go through the various committees and jurisdictions," Scalise said, without specifying a timeline.
What's inside: The report has nearly 150 policy recommendations. Those focused on economic competitiveness include:
- Authorizing the president to ban AI, quantum and other technology critical to national security that is owned by a foreign adversary
- Funding NSF, NIST and DOE research for AI
- Developing international standards with allies on AI.
"There are a number of bills that I think will send a strong message on China," LaHood said, pointing to supply chain, trade and intellectual property issues.
Behind the scenes: Jacob Helberg, a policy adviser for Palantir behind a push to connect Silicon Valley and D.C., told Axios he's planning on carrying out a series of briefings and roundtables with elected officials on Capitol Hill soon.
- The briefings will focus on securing the U.S. AI supply chain.
- Helberg is also part of the bipartisan U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was created by Congress to monitor issues between the two countries.
- "Energy and large computing clusters are actually two focal points of the AI supply chain debate that I believe is going to pick up a lot of steam in the next few weeks," Helberg said.
