Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Chair, my amendment would prohibit the Department of Defense from creating, procuring, or displaying any map which depicts Taiwan as a part of the territory of the People's Republic of China.

The House approved a similar amendment as part of the State Department appropriations bill last Congress, and today's amendment would simply extend this policy to the Department of Defense.

This is not a controversial amendment since all of us know that Taiwan is not, nor has it ever been, part of Communist China, even for a single day.

The people of Taiwan elect their own leaders, deploy their own armed forces, conduct their own foreign policy, and maintain their own trade agreements with other countries.

By every measure, Taiwan is a sovereign, democratic, and independent nation, and any claims to the contrary are simply false.

Since the 1970s, America's so-called One China policy has acknowledged Beijing's unsubstantiated claims over Taiwan. This is an antiquated and dishonest policy, and it is one that we should abandon. While my amendment will not end that misguided policy, it will at least require that the maps that we use reflect a simple reality: China is China. Taiwan is Taiwan.

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Chair, I will close by saying that I appreciate the consistency by the gentlewoman from Minnesota because she said the same thing a couple of years ago. Yet, this body was excluded back in 1979 when the One China policy was implemented by President Carter, and it is up to this body to make sure that it claims its rightful place in foreign policy when we have an issue like this before us.

The gentlewoman talks about the spirit of this amendment. This amendment is issued in the spirit of freedom, and that is all that Taiwan is looking for, to defend its freedom, and it should be able to do it.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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