WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the Senate expected to again advance the $250 BILLION COMPETES Act later this week, Senator Rick Scott today released the following statement.

Senator Rick Scott said, “The COMPETES Act is a perfect example of how a broken Washington tries and fails to solve problems. Communist China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs, regularly steals U.S. technology and intellectual property, lies and cheats to manipulate markets and has crushed democracy in Hong Kong. We must respond to these crimes and atrocities, but this bill doesn’t deliver. Instead of combatting the threats posed by Xi Jinping and the evil Communist Chinese Party, the COMPETES Act recklessly wastes $250 BILLION we don’t have on Green New Deal policies, like the UN Green Climate Fund, wild handouts to universities partnering with Communist China and tech companies making record profits. Reckless government spending like this fuels inflation. With prices skyrocketing and CPI at a 40-year high, American families can’t afford more failed policy and reckless spending from a broken Washington. I won’t stop fighting to defeat this bad bill.”

Instead of combatting the threats posed by Communist China, here’s what the COMPETES Act really does:

• Further fuels an already raging inflation crisis with $250 BILLION in reckless government spending that isn’t paid for.
• Provides a $52 BILLION handout for semiconductor chip manufacturers which have made huge profits in recent years, like Intel. Intel alone made nearly $20 billion in net income last year, with a profit margin of over 25%.
• Spends $8 BILLION on the UN Green Climate Fund.
• Gives BILLIONS to universities without prohibiting funding from going to institutions that host Confucius Institutes, Communist China’s program to steal U.S. technology and IP at our universities.
• Directs the U.S. Government and the Chinese Communist Party to work together on research projects.
• Does not include accountability for American taxpayers, such as return on investment provisions, or clawback requirements when funds are not appropriately used.
• DOES NOTHING to hold Communist China accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic.

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