Pelosi Stonewalls Bill That Would Crack Down on Chinese Influence in U.S.

House Dems block bill to crack down on regime-sponsored Confucius Institutes

House Democrats are blocking a bill that will curtail the influence of the Chinese-government-funded Confucius Institute, stymying bipartisan legislation that unanimously passed in the Senate.

Despite bipartisan support in the upper chamber, House Democrats—including a cosponsor for the bill—voted against placing the CONFUCIUS Act on the agenda in late July, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has yet to announce plans to place the bill on the floor. If passed, the legislation would require all federally funded universities with Confucius Institutes to assume "full managerial control" of the institutes, a move that would limit the Chinese government's influence over the program.

Frustrated by the lack of action, congressional Republicans are blaming Pelosi for blocking debate for the bill, criticizing the House speaker for putting politics over national security.

"I regret that Speaker Pelosi has still not scheduled the CONFUCIUS Act for a vote," said Rules Committee Ranking Member Tom Cole, who introduced the July vote. "This isn’t about politics. It’s about holding China accountable, and Speaker Pelosi clearly hasn’t made that a priority."

This is not the first time Democrats have opposed bipartisan legislation that sought to hold China accountable. In March, House Democrats railed against a bill that demanded Beijing disavow its conspiracy theory that the novel coronavirus originated in a U.S. military lab, labeling the bill racist against Asian Americans. House Democrats also dropped out of the then-bipartisan China task force in an unexplained, last minute...

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