Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday (Feb. 4) formally requested a stay on the confirmation process for President Biden‘s nominee for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, saying he was deeply concerned about Raimondo’s position on huawei.
“I will lift the stay decision when the Biden Administration promises to keep massive Chinese Communist spy operation Huawei on the list of entities,” Cruz tweeted Thursday.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, immediately followed with a statement praising Cruz’s decision. McCaul has repeatedly said over the past week that the Biden administration’s continued refusal to commit to keeping Huawei on the U.S. Commerce Department’s list of entities is “alarming and dangerous.
“I have repeatedly reiterated that Huawei is not a normal telecommunications company, that it is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party‘s military, that it poses a significant threat to U.S. national security, and that it supports the Communist Party’s genocide in Xinjiang,” McCaul said in a written statement Thursday. “The Biden administration must take this seriously and not delay or promise to ‘go back to the drawing board.'”
“The American people and our allies must get a clear and straightforward answer as to whether President Biden is committed to keeping Huawei on the list of entities and clearly stating its export control policies for entities controlled or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party,” McCaul said.
LR @RepMcCaul: “I am pleased Senator Cruz agreed with myself and over 20 other House Republicans and has placed a hold on Governor #Raimondo’s confirmation until the Biden Administration commits to keeping #Huawei on the #EntityList. https://t.co/ 2zEJpbVOlj
- House Foreign Affairs GOP (@HouseForeignGOP) February 4, 2021
On Tuesday, Rep. McCaul led a letter to Senate colleagues from 20 House Republicans calling for a hold or delay on Raimondo’s confirmation until the Biden administration is willing to make a firm commitment.
Nevertheless, the Senate Commerce Committee voted 21 to 3 the next morning to advance Rhode Island Governor Raimondo’s confirmation as Secretary of Commerce. The nomination will be voted on by the full Senate before the formal confirmation process is completed.
Under current Senate rules, the majority party does not need a 60-vote supermajority, but rather a simple 51-vote majority to end debate on the confirmation of appointments. This means that Democrats can reject Cruz’s request for delay and then confirm Raimondo as commerce secretary with a simple majority, as long as they can get 51 votes, including a possible tie-breaking vote from Vice President Harris. However, with the Senate next to consider President Biden’s new crown (Chinese Communist virus) Epidemic relief bill and the impeachment trial against former President Trump, it is not yet known when the full chamber will discuss and vote on Raimondo’s nomination.
In addition to Senator Cruz, two other Republican senators, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), voted against Raimondo’s nomination in the Commerce Committee, all citing concerns about Raimondo’s position on Huawei.
“Gina Raimondo’s ethics issues and her weak stance on the CCP, including her refusal to commit to keeping Huawei on the entity list, are deeply troubling,” Cruz tweeted Wednesday after the committee vote, “which is why I voted against moving her nomination forward. I urge my colleagues to decline to confirm her nomination.”
FILE PHOTO: Gina Raimondo was nominated by President Biden to be secretary of commerce. (Jan. 8, 2021)
Raimondo said late last month during her confirmation hearing on her nomination that she would take a firm stand against the Chinese Communist Party. She said the U.S. would take a “whole-of-government” approach to counteracting Beijing‘s unfair trade practices.
However, under questioning from Senator Cruz, she declined to elaborate on whether she would keep Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei on the Commerce Department’s list of entities, saying only that she would revisit the decision, discuss it with Congress, consult with industry and allies, and finally evaluate and develop a policy that would be in the best interest of U.S. national and economic security.
Raimondo’s statement then prompted several congressional Republicans to question and worry about her position on Huawei.
These Republican House members mentioned that members of both the Democratic and Republican parties view Huawei as a national security threat to the United States. They urged those senators who had called for Huawei to remain on the list of entities to stick to their principles and suspend the confirmation of Raimondo’s nomination until the Biden administration clarifies their intentions regarding Huawei and their export control policy toward China.
Amid strong opposition from congressional Republicans, Raimondo added her position on Huawei to the Senate Commerce Committee in a written response to questions after the hearing, stressing that she had “no reason to believe that the entities on the list should not remain there.
In her statement, Raimondo further explained, “On the issue of Huawei, let me clarify: telecommunications equipment manufactured by untrusted vendors poses a threat to the security of the United States and our allies, and we will ensure that U.S. telecommunications networks do not use equipment produced by untrusted vendors and will work with our allies to ensure the security of their telecommunications networks while investing in expanding the production of trusted telecommunications equipment in the United States and in our allies. allies in the production of trusted telecommunications equipment.”
Last Friday (Jan. 29), three Republican senators, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-KS), sent a letter to Raimondo asking her to clarify whether she would remove Huawei from the Commerce Department’s list of entities. They warned that “the company has not changed with the president of the United States.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also declined to make a commitment when asked twice about the matter during a press briefing last week, saying instead that the Biden administration was conducting an interagency review of issues involving regulatory action and issues related to Chinese investment.
Psaki did not answer directly when asked if the new Biden administration would continue the Trump Administration‘s restrictive policies on Huawei. “We must play better defense, and that must include holding China accountable for its unfair and illegal actions and ensuring that U.S. technology does not facilitate the Communist Party’s military buildup,” she said.
Sharkey also said she would exclude untrustworthy providers from the U.S. telecommunications network.
Recent Comments