Maintaining American Superiority By Improving Export Control Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1316) to amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 relating to licensing transparency, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1316

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act''. SEC. 2. LICENSING TRANSPARENCY.

Section 1756 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4815) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(e) Report.--

``(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the Secretary, shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on end-use checks related to, as well as license applications and other requests for authorization for the export, reexport, release, and in- country transfer of items controlled under this part to covered entities.

``(2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall include, with respect to the preceding one year-period, the following:

``(A) For each license application or other request for authorization, the name of the entity submitting the application, a brief description of the item (including the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) and reason for control, if applicable), the name of the end-user, the end- user's location, a value estimate, decision with respect to the license application or authorization, and the date of submission.

``(B) The date, location, and result of any end-use checks, to ensure compliance with United States export controls.

``(C) Aggregate statistics on all license applications and other requests for authorization as described in subparagraph (A).

``(3) Confidentiality of information.--The information required to be provided in the reports required by this subsection (other than the information required by paragraph (2)(C)) shall be exempt from public disclosure pursuant to section 1761(h)(1).

``(4) Protecting enforcement information.--In preparing and submitting a report under subsection (e), the Secretary shall ensure that information that may jeopardize an ongoing investigation shall not be included in the contents of the report.

``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection--

``(A) the term `appropriate congressional committees' means--

``(i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and

``(ii) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and

``(B) the term `covered entity' means any entity that--

``(i) is located in a country listed in Country Group D:5 under Supplement No. 1 to part 740 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations; and

``(ii) is included on--

``(I) the list maintained and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations; or

``(II) the list maintained and set forth in Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations.''.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act. I wish my colleague could have picked a shorter name for it, but that is my friend, Mr. Jackson. He does good legislation, sometimes a little long- winded on the names.

Export controls are a critical tool for protecting American national security. Foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party are working tirelessly to steal and exploit U.S. technology. We have known this.

The CCP is using its military-civil fusion strategy to fuel China's military buildup and commit human rights atrocities, just like we spoke about on Uyghur genocide. No American servicemember should have to face a foreign adversary armed with U.S. technology, and no act of genocide should be enabled by American innovation.

As important as export controls are to protecting American lives and values, they are only as strong as their administration and enforcement. Every U.S. export control ultimately requires the government to decide on whether to approve or deny a license for the item in question.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, or the BIS, is the lead agency for administering and enforcing U.S. export controls. As export controls have become more vital to our national security, the importance of congressional oversight has only increased. The licensing data for how BIS is administering export controls can be difficult for Congress to gain access to for oversight purposes.

Last Congress, the Foreign Affairs Committee worked persistently to uncover that BIS was routinely approving export control licenses for even the worst actors, such as Huawei and SMIC. Last Congress, the Foreign Affairs Committee worked to expose this in hearing after hearing without much help from the Biden administration. Huawei and SMIC are two of the CCP's national champions and play a critical role in supporting China's military buildup and human rights abuses.

It is essential that Congress has visibility into how many licenses are being approved for the worst actors on export control blacklists, known as the Entity List. This bill will improve transparency and ensure Congress is able to conduct regular oversight of how BIS is handling licenses and how effectively our export controls are being enforced.

I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Jackson), and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Jacobs) for introducing this important legislation. The Foreign Affairs Committee marked up this legislation last Congress, and it passed the committee and the House floor with strong bipartisan support. I expect it will receive the same support today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working to improve transparency and congressional oversight of U.S. export controls. It is vital. That can't be overstated enough. It is vital.

I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. 1316, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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