Nebraska Panhandle News

U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has introduced five pieces of legislation aimed at countering the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in America's agriculture and financial sectors.

"The CCP is the single greatest threat to America’s national security and financial independence," said Senator Ricketts. "A CCP-led world would mean coercion instead of choice, tyranny instead of liberty, and dictatorship instead of democracy. The only way to combat this threat is with a strong, strategic, all-of-government approach. These bills move us closer to that."

The proposed bills include:

1. **Securing American Agriculture Act**: This bill addresses the PRC's control over crucial sectors of the U.S. food and agricultural supply chain, which poses a national security threat. China controls significant market shares in essential agricultural inputs like vitamins and amino acids used in animal feed. A University of Wisconsin-Whitewater study indicated that unchecked PRC domination could destroy 30,000 U.S. jobs and reduce economic activity by $15 billion per year.

2. **Protecting Endowments from Our Adversaries Act (PEOAA)**: This bill targets U.S. university endowment dollars that have been used to fund technology behind CCP surveillance activities in China. The aim is to ensure tax-advantaged endowment funds are used for education purposes rather than supporting adversaries.

3. **No Capital Gains Allowance for American Adversaries Act**: This legislation seeks to stop subsidizing investments from adversarial nations like China by eliminating certain capital gains allowances.

4. **People’s Republic of China (PRC) Military and Human Rights Capital Markets Sanctions Act**: A recent report identified 144 Chinese companies whose practices are adverse to U.S. interests, including human rights violations and military-industrial complex involvement. This bill aims to make it illegal for Americans to buy stock in these companies.

5. **No China in Index Funds Act**: This bill intends to prevent index mutual funds from investing in Chinese companies without proper risk evaluation due to unique difficulties associated with such investments.

The bills have garnered bipartisan support with various co-sponsors from both chambers of Congress.