(StraightNews.org) – Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar will sit as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party when the current chair, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, leaves Congress next month. Speaker Mike Johnson said Mr. Moolenaar will make “an exceptional chairman” when he takes the mantle.
In a statement, Speaker Johnson said the Michigan lawmaker’s experience in the public and private sectors, as well as his “principled” service to Congress, has earned him the respect of colleagues from both sides of the political aisle. Moolenaar thanked Johnson for the appointment and promised to help prepare America for the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The committee was formed last January and cites its role as working, on a bipartisan basis, to “build consensus” on the CCP threat and devise a strategy to face that threat and defend the United States from one of its most significant global adversaries.
The CCP committee played an instrumental role in recent efforts to ban the video-sharing platform TikTok. Rep. Mike Gallagher, together with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, who serves as chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act on March 5.
The bill will ban TikTok in the US “unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance.” Bytedance is TikTok’s Chinese owner.
The House of Representatives passed the bill by 352 votes to 65. Members of both parties believe the application is used by the communist party to spy on Americans, and this is facilitated by its legal right to demand data from any Chinese company. Others argue the application negatively impacts young people’s mental health. Studies show that social media affects sleep, attention, and self-esteem, particularly among teenage girls.
Donald Trump said he opposes the ban, saying it could empower Facebook, which he considers an “enemy of the people.”
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