GOP lawmaker seeks review of Pennsylvania’s competition with China

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Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh) said on Wednesday that he plans to sponsor a bill that would authorize the creation of a select committee in the State House of Representatives to review the Commonwealth’s competitive status with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Rep. Mackenzie and State Rep. Danilo Burgos (D-Philadelphia), who will sign on as the lead cosponsor of the bill, are currently circulating a cosponsorship memo seeking bipartisan support for the legislation, which their offices say will be introduced in the coming weeks.

“This select committee would be similar to one recently created by the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate competition with the CCP at the federal level,” Mackenzie said in a Feb. 15 statement. “We believe there are also many issues at the state level regarding our competition with China that need to be examined, as well.”

For example, such state-related issues, he said, include banning TikTok on all state government-owned devices and divesting the Commonwealth from Chinese assets tied to the CCP, according to the statement.

Other examples would be prohibiting Chinese investors with ties to the CCP from buying state agricultural land and critical land near military bases and banning Chinese investment or donations tied to the CCP from being made to Pennsylvania colleges and universities, among others.

Specifically, the select committee would investigate, review, and make findings and recommendations concerning the status of the CCP’s economic, technological, and security progress in its competition with Pennsylvania and the United States, according to Rep. Mackenzie’s statement.