Seventy-nine Democrats voted against a bill effectively banning Chinese military companies from doing federal business in the United States, but the Harris-Walz campaign declined to say where it stands on the legislation amid concerns over Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to an institute that did business with one of the companies targeted in the bill.
The Biosecure Act, HR 8333, passed the House by a vote of 306-81, with 79 Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, would not allow federal agencies to “procure or obtain any biotechnology equipment or service produced or provided by a biotechnology company of concern.”
One of the companies called out in the act, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), has been labeled a “Chinese military company” by the Pentagon and has done extensive work with a medical research institute with deep ties to Walz, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign multiple times for comment over the last six days on whether it supports the Biosecure Act, but they refused to say where the campaign stands.
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The House Oversight Committee is investigating Gov. Walz’s China ties. (Getty Images)
BGI’s presence in the United States was brought to the forefront again this week after Fox News Digital reported that the House Oversight Committee is aware of a machine operated by BGI that is in use at Los Alamos, the nation’s most secretive government laboratory.
“I spoke in favor of my bill, the BIOSECURE Act, on the House floor today. This legislation is the first step towards breaking our reliance on Chinese biotech and pharmaceutical companies while protecting the genetic data of millions of Americans from the CCP,” Wenstrup posted on X shortly before the bill was passed.
“From harvesting genetic data for research to aiding and abetting the CCP in genocide, China’s biotech companies have proven they will stop at nothing to assist the CCP. It’s time we reclaim our independence and protect the health care of all Americans.”
Earlier this year, the House Oversight Committee announced it is investigating Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to China. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this year, the House Oversight Committee announced it is investigating Walz’s ties to China and on Thursday the Washington Examiner reported that the investigation has expanded and documents have been requested.
Walz worked briefly in China as a teacher, traveling to Guangdong in 1989 for a teach abroad program to teach English and American history. Walz has made dozens of trips to China and The Wall Street Journal, citing local media reports, reported that one trip to China doubled as his honeymoon in 1994, and he planned his wedding date to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
“I’ve lived in China and, as I’ve said, I’ve been there about 30 times…. I don’t fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree, and I think we need to stand firm on what they’re doing in the South China Sea, but there’s many areas of cooperation we can work on,” Walz said in an interview with Agri-Pulse Communications.
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China’s President Xi Jinping is welcomed to Rome, Italy, on March 23, 2019. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
He was also quoted by a local outlet in 1990 reflecting on his visits to China, saying, “No matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again.”
“They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience,” Walz said, adding that he was “treated exceptionally well.”
The remark came in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and amid continued and still ongoing mass human rights abuses by the communist regime.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report