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Today, Congressman Jim Baird (IN-04) released the following statement after his bill, the Interagency Coordination in Export Controls Act, passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

“Exports are the lifeblood of our economy on a global scale,” said Congressman Baird. “Our export controls process drastically affects our defense, diplomatic, and energy ecosystems. China is notorious for importing and stealing American and allied civilian technologies and maliciously using them in support of its military. We cannot allow our advanced technologies to give China the upper hand. Strengthening cross-departmental input will help prevent this. I was grateful to see the House Foreign Affairs Committee pass my legislation to reform our export controls process and strengthen our national security. I thank my friend, Chairman Mast, for his leadership, and I hope this legislation comes before the full U.S. House soon.”

Background:

The Export Administration Review Board (EARB) is an advisory panel consisting of the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, State, and War. The panel advises the Secretary of Commerce on decisions regarding U.S. Export Controls, the rules regarding exports. The Department of Commerce is currently the only agency that can write new rules on export controls. 

The Interagency Coordination in Export Controls Act allows the other three agencies to propose new rules and requires three out of four departments to agree on export controls before final implementation.

Additionally, the legislation requires the Secretary of State to consider the implications of China’s military-civil fusion strategy for U.S. export controls and consider proposing corresponding policies to the other agencies for a vote. Military-civil fusion is an aggressive strategy from the Chinese Communist Party to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world, in part by eliminating barriers between China’s civilian research and commercial sectors and its military and defense industrial sectors, as well as by acquiring and diverting the world’s cutting-edge technologies, often by theft.

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