Cole Slams America CONCEDES Act

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole, (OK-04) released the following statement after voting against H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act.

"Although titled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 4521 would be much more appropriately called the America CONCEDES Act since it does more to prop up Communist China than to strengthen and protect our own country's competitive edge," said Cole. "Considering that members on both sides of the aisle agree on the need to counter China as a growing adversarial threat and address the country's unruly behavior, this legislation could have been and should have been bipartisan. Instead, it was hastily cobbled together behind closed doors in Speaker Pelosi's office without any Republican input.

"The legislation contains no new policy provisions to combat Chinese military ventures and no new economic policies to reposition America to better compete. In fact, the legislation would actually funnel more U.S. taxpayer dollars to programs and efforts tied to the Communist Chinese Party. Moreover, the bill is being used by Democrats as a last-ditch effort to implement controversial progressive climate policies that could not pass Congress on their own merit, all in the guise of addressing the challenges posed by Communist China. America needs to take a real stance on the global war waged by China, and I am deeply disappointed that this legislation seriously misses the mark."

Cole also made remarks during the Rules Committee's hearing on the legislation earlier this week. Video is available here and transcript here.

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