South Miami-Dade News

Today, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 8631 - Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, introduced by Congressman Carlos Gimenez with unanimous and bipartisan support.

“The United States must decouple from Communist China in all facets of our lives. The Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act prohibits the Department of Homeland Security from procuring batteries from companies with ties to the People's Republic of China,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez. “With the passage of this bill we reaffirm and continue to decouple ourselves from Communist China but also call on our own domestic industries to produce critically important materials. We must proactively stay ahead and address these threats that undermine the US supply chain and leave our national security at risk. We were already late to recognize the PRC’s battery threat, and we cannot afford to do it again. I urge my Senate colleagues to pass this bill so we can get it to the President's desk as soon as possible.”

Read my statement from the House floor below:

"I rise in support of my bill, the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act. Our world is relying on battery technology from the smartphones in our pockets to the energy storage equipment that powers our homes and businesses, and this dependence underscores a larger issue that our nation is becoming increasingly reliant on materials and technologies that power these devices which poses grave risk to our nation's security and economic stability. As it stands, Communist China produces approximately 80% of the world's batteries and roughly 70% of the world's lithium-ion batteries. These staggering numbers leave U.S. supply chains vulnerable and our nation's security at risk.

Recently, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and Chinese Communist Party, a committee I'm a member of, revealed information that at least two of the world's top battery manufacturers, CATL and Gotten High-Tech are affiliated with a paramilitary and CCP-owned entity that is expressly named in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act due to their forced labor practices. They've been implementing surveillance and documented Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic groups that the CCP is attempting to eradicate.

SPPC is using forced labor to manufacture their products, and dependence on batteries made in the CCP poses significant risk to us. The fact that other Chinese entities could install malware or other intelligence-gathering sensors on these products could result in gathering sensitive information or executing a shutdown on EV networks or even disable targeted vehicles through hardware infiltration.

Last year, reports indicated that PRC-aligned ACTL installed batteries in Florida, Virginia, Nevada, California as well as a solar farm on leased land inside U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Energy storage batteries placed by CCP at Camp Lejeune have been decommissioned following increased pressure from Congress. The Pentagon's decision to not only remove CTAL battery from Camp Lejeune but make it clear it would not buy PRC-aligned batteries because of concern is more than adequate to demonstrate why we should not have these batteries in other parts of our critical infrastructure.

Our government should not be spending tax dollars to procure batteries from companies that profit from slave labor or provide another avenue for CCP expansion of their surveillance apparatus here in United States homeland.

My legislation H.R. 8631, Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act is a first step in battling this issue modeled after previous provisions modeled in fiscal 2024 NDAA; my legislation builds off these efforts and prohibits Department Homeland Security procuring battery technology companies deep ties CCP engage human rights abuses doing so bill helps nation take step advance efforts decouple PRC safeguard critical supply chains exploitation proud see bill pass out committee bipartisan nature look forward seeing pass full house bipartisan vote thank you reserve balance time."

Congressman Carlos Giménez represents Miami-Dade County and Florida Keys. He is only Cuban-born Member 118th Congress having fled homeland shortly after Communist takeover island first career firefighter paramedic elected House Representatives served former Fire Chief City Miami Mayor Miami-Dade County serves Chairman Homeland Security Subcommittee Transportation Maritime Security Armed Services Committee Select Committee Chinese Communist Party.