Crackdown On Chinese-Based Technology Indicates A Turning Point In Industry Collaboration
October 21, 2021—The U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of bipartisan bills yesterday intended to protect the U.S. communications industry and consumers from foreign security risks.
The Secure Equipment Act would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to “no longer review or approve” radio-frequency devices posing national security risks to the United States.
The House passed it with overwhelming support on a 420-4 vote. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., introduced the bill along with strong bipartisan support. Only four members — Reps. Sean Casten, D-Ill., Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., — voted against it.
It came to be known as the “Huawei loophole” bill, primarily because FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr began calling it that over the Summer. He praised the House approval, saying it “would close a glaring loophole that Huawei and others are exploiting today to place their insecure gear into our networks.”
In addition to Huawei, Rep. Scalise said the bill would also block equipment manufactured by Chinese state-backed firms such as ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua from being further used and marketed in the United States.
More Tech-Related Bills Passed
Additionally, the House passed a bill, H.R. 4028, to require the Commerce Department to develop a “whole-of-government” strategy to assess the competitiveness of U.S. information technology companies. The intent of the measure is to “strengthen the structure, resources, and authorities of the Federal Government to support the economic competitiveness of trusted information and communication technology vendors, including United States vendors that are trusted.” Members voted 413-14 in favor of the bill, which Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., introduced.
Public-Private Advisory Council
H.R. 4067 to reestablish and make permanent a council to protect wireless communications. Specifically, the Communications Security Advisory Act would direct the FCC to secure U.S. communications networks based on “trusted” technology providers. The council would be made up of representatives from the industry, public interest organizations and the government.
The House voted 397-29 in favor of the bill sponsored by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. House approval comes after the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a series of hearings last Spring and Summer on wireless communications. During the committee meeting to markup the legislation, members approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.
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