FEDERAL Policy SOLUTIONS

EXPANDING THE PROTECTING AMERICA INITIATIVE TO FEDERAL LEVEL

The Protecting America Initiative was created in 2024 to help state elected officials enact policies to secure our national security and economic sovereignty, as Washington failed to do so under the Biden Administration. Since then, we have seen tangible results advancing policies that will curb the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ambitions as more and more states adopt legislation promoted by the Protecting America Initiative.   

Based on our success introducing, promoting, and enacting protections at the state level, we will now be expanding our efforts to the federal level. President Trump and conservative leaders in Washington take the threat of the CCP seriously and the Protecting America Initiative will apply our proven strategy to ensure important federal legislation passes into law. 

Getting Bills to the President’s Desk – A Comprehensive Strategy 

As a direct result of President Trump’s first election, the federal government has gotten more serious about protecting Americans from the malicious interference of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In Congress, the establishment of the Select Committee on the CCP and the production of dozens of bills from the House and Senate Foreign Affairs Committees are evidence that elected officials in Washington are taking the threat seriously.  

Unfortunately, bipartisan national security bills that were approved in committee have stalled in Congress before reaching the President for his signature. Many of those bills were ignored by the United States Senate last year when it was under control of Democrats. Republicans, however, now hold power in the House, Senate, and White House.   

The Protecting America Initiative will duplicate our success at the state level and use a five-step strategy to ensure important bills that protect America from Chinese interference are signed into law. Here’s how: 

  1. Identify key policy areas where the federal government can protect Americans from the CCP threat.

  2. Work with lawmakers to draft and promote federal legislation to combat the CCP.  

  3. Build momentum for these legislative efforts with influential conservatives online and in the media.

  4. Partner with grassroots advocates to pressure lawmakers and pass those bills in the House and Senate so the President can sign them into law.

  5. Hold Congress accountable by highlighting elected officials who support these key bills and exposing those who oppose legislation that protects America.

Using these tactics, the Protecting America Initiative’s advocacy will make the difference that advances key policies into law. Where legislation failed in the past, we are committed to ensuring that these policies are adopted in a bipartisan manner and signed into law under President Trump. 

Six Priority Federal Policy Areas  

Our strategy to protect the American people from the encroachment of the CCP begins by using our policy experts to identify specific legislative and administrative goals. We know that the Chinese government has a sophisticated plan to achieve world dominance. Our policy prescriptions need to be detailed and targeted to stop this aggression.   

We will work with the Trump Administration and Congress to enact policies focused on the following six priority issues. 

SECURING THE BORDER TO PROTECT AMERICAN LIVES

The number of Chinese nationals crossing through America’s southern border surged under President Biden’s watch. In fiscal year 2024, 38,246 Chinese nationals were encountered at the southern border of the United States according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. These record-breaking numbers have thankfully fallen to all-time lows under President Trump. Lawmakers must use this reprieve to enact laws that protect our southern border from CCP infiltration to smuggle deadly fentanyl or other dangerous substances.

  • From fiscal years 2022 through 2024, the number of Chinese nationals encountered at the southwest border increased by 1,658% and more than 63,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The federal government must secure the border to impede the flow of illegal immigrants and deadly drugs into the United States. 

  • To protect American lives, we must disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the country as well as work to comprehensively hold accountable the malign actors that enable its creation, trade, and distribution. Federal authorities should be given expanded abilities to target and sanction individuals, entities, or financial institutions involved in pushing fentanyl.   

  • CCP-related acts of transnational repression occur when agents working either directly or indirectly on behalf of the Chinese government harass, threaten, or silence political opponents within the United States. Successfully preventing and responding to such acts will require a coordinated effort between local, state, and national authorities. Those acting on behalf of the CCP must be identified at the border when possible, but in cases when dissidents are being harassed in American communities, there should be clear channels to notify federal officials and commence action. 

SAFEGUARDING AMERICA’S FOOD SUPPLY

In recent years, Chinese investors and entities have made inroads on gaining access to strategically important American land, including areas that are critical to maintaining our food supply chain. Congress must pass laws that protect America’s food security and keep the Chinese government away from sensitive areas within the United States. 

  • Chinese investors owned nearly 280,000 acres of agricultural land in the United States at the end of 2023. Because national security depends upon food security, Congress should enact a federal prohibition on the purchase of agricultural land by foreign adversaries. 

  • Keeping our strategic assets free from foreign threats is critical to keeping our country safe. Enacting safeguards against Chinese-related entities buying land near sensitive sites will help maintain a buffer against foreign threats. States across the country have started to ban companies associated with foreign adversaries from buying land near or adjacent to U.S. military installations. The federal government should follow suit. 

  • Legislators must pass protections to ensure the continuation of a healthy domestic agricultural manufacturing base. Agricultural products manufactured in the United States are inseparable from maintaining a strong domestic food supply. States are providing special protections for American agricultural manufacturers, which are critical to ensuring that our food supply isn't threatened by China. It is essential that critical agricultural products  continue to beproduced domestically. If Chinese companies corner the market on critical agricultural products, they will have the ability to outright control our food supply. The federal government must identify and pass laws that protect American farm companies from unfair practices to protect our food supply.   

Re-Establishing Energy Dominance

Energy is the key global commodity, and the United States has access to enough raw energy to lead the world in production and distribution. The CCP hopes that it can use its willingness to produce and buy every kind of energy as a tool to manipulate countries around the world. America can thwart these plans by extracting, developing, and exporting energy to maintain global dominance.

  • The Biden Administration purposefully crippled American energy production in a self-destructive attempt to appease far left environmental extremists. From 2021 to 2023, U.S. energy production essentially stagnated, growing by only three percent. The Trump Administration is rolling back the regulations and artificial barriers that stalled U.S. production. We must support and expand upon those efforts. 

  • Until 2005, the United States produced more energy than any country in the world. In 2006, China surpassed America and has led the world ever since. The CCP uses its production of energy to cultivate strategic allies around the globe in an effort to weaken America’s economic influence around the global. The U.S. must not cede the power that comes with leading the world in energy production. We should produce and export energy while supporting global infrastructure to ensure that the U.S. is dominant. 

  • Establishing American energy dominance will not be possible without also protecting critical supplies and infrastructure from external threats such as CCP-backed hacking programs meant to probe vulnerabilities and enable future catastrophic disruptions. From energy grids to refineries to pipelines, the U.S. should implement a coordinated effort to counter threats to our critical energy assets. 

  • As both Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum have acknowledged, a crucial component of America’s energy future is not just energy production but also having an energy grid capable of reliably transmitting energyto regions of demand. We should prioritize building out transmission infrastructure and removing regulatory barriers that have delayed or prevented its deployment. 

Defending National Security Technology

It is well known that the CCP is engaged in efforts to steal American technology and defense secrets through hacking, infiltrating U.S. companies, and outright espionage. Part of the CCP’s long-term plan to supplant the United States as the world’s leading superpower relies on using our own technological prowess against us by stealing, copying, and reproducing America’s national security and economic technology. We will work with Congress and the White House to protect these resources from CCP spies.

  • The easiest way for the CCP to infiltrate American technology is by incorporating Chinese-owned or -made sytems into our nation's critical infrastructure. This occurs whenever the United States intelligence agencies or companies rely on technology or hardware from China as a component in our own networks. Leaders in Washington must establish laws and regulations that keep Chinese companies and products out of U.S. communications, computing, infrastructure, and national security products and hold CCP companies accountable when they are caught stealing data. 

  • Since January 2021, there have been more than 60 reported cases of CCP-related espionage aimed at the United States, including a major hack of the U.S. Treasury Department. As espionage tactics against the U.S. become more brazen and more serious, the penalties for committing such acts should also be strengthened in response. 

  • One way that the CCP has tried to learn more about U.S. technology is through America’s university research system. Unfortunately, partnerships between American colleges and Chinese research universities have become opportunities for communist adversaries to access sensitive information and a vast network of American intelligence on everything from biological experiments to advanced robotics. The federal government must use its leverage through research funding to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not go to collaborative efforts with the CCP and guarantee that university funding is transparent.   

Enforcing Lawful and Fair Trading Practices

The federal government holds a critical advantage over the states in countering CCP aggression: its Constitutional authority and responsibility to regulate international trade. Using trade levers to curb China’s unfair trade practices or address our imbalanced trade with the CCP may be controversial, but in many respects, those tools have proven highly effective. As the Chinese government’s influence continues to grow, the United States must fully leverage every trade tool at its disposal to safeguard national interests.

  • The President has already taken swift action to use trade in the war against fentanyl that is pouring into the United States. The President has also identified several other remedies that will address unfair trade practices perpetrated by the CCP. As President Trump leverages trade mechanisms, including tariffs and duties, to alter the behavior of the communist Chinese government, it will be imperative to provide political and policy support in order to curb CCP influence in the U.S.   

  • Following President Trump’s January order directing the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to assess legislative proposals about China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, legislators should work with the Secretary and USTR to remove preferential trading status for China that allows it to sell its goods in the U.S. more cheaply than other countries. 

  • Congress has already taken important steps to stop the CCP’s unfair and inhuman trade practices, including the use of forced labor. In 2021, Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to outlaw the purchase of Chinese products produced using the labor of Chinese Uyghurs who have been subject to state-imposed forced labor.  Since this bill became law, certain companies have been able to use de minimis loopholes in the bill’s language to circumvent its intentions. Those loopholes must be closed as lawmakers continue to stop trade that relies on human rights abuses. 

RETURNING CRITICAL INDUSTRIES TO THE UNITED STATES

China’s communist government is intent on overtaking America as the most powerful country in the world. In order to do so, the CCP has endeavored to move the development of important global products to mainland China. America’s leaders must implement the following policies to bring critical industries back and protect essential domestic supplies.

  • The future of American energy, electronics, and national security are reliant on critical minerals that are not only scarce but also to date have been controlled by adversarial actors. The U.S. must take concrete steps toward developing alternative supply chains that are resilient to disruption and geopolitical gamesmanship. The Department of Energy and Department of Interior should assess the U.S. stockpile and anticipated need for critical materials and pursue alternatives to relying on Chinese supply chains. We must eliminate barriers to domestic extraction of critical minerals and have a long-term plan to move away from any dependence on the CCP. 

  • Strong national defense is the best deterrent against aggression by the CCP. Despite increasing spending every year, our defense industrial base has become hollowed out in recent years according to Congressional assessments. The U.S. must have a strong defense base and the ability to build our own arsenal. Federal funds should be targeted to building strategic and long-term defense strength.   

  • The United States is simply too dependent on China and other foreign adversaries to supply important goods and services to our country. Policymakers in Washington must be focused on returning critical industries and production to the United States. This should include every kind of industrial production but also prioritize key products like agriculture, mineral production, defense components, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The U.S. cannot be dependent on the CCP to produce our most critical products. It is time to bring these industries home. 

  • One reason that key private sector production has fled the United States in recent years is the mass of onerous and unnecessary environmental regulations and bureaucratic red tape that has slowed down private growth in the U.S. In order to bring jobs back to the U.S. and reestablish leadership in key industries, federal lawmakers must streamline domestic regulations and rules that make it difficult for companies in America to compete. 

  • The United States federal government operates well over 100 programs that provide taxpayer money to industries or individuals in an effort to spur economic development. That number does not even include the dozens of loan guarantee programs and tax credits given to industries and activities that the government wants to encourage. As long as Washington is in the business of providing incentives and benefits to some private entities in the U.S., taxpayers should be assured that none of these benefits enrich our adversaries like the CCP. These programs should be audited, and participants must affirm any dealings or affiliations with the CCP.