Exclusive: House Democrats lobby against China committee
Some Democrats are encouraging leaders to scrap the House’s Select Committee on China once their party takes over next year. Some Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are encouraging leaders to scrap the chamber’s Select Committee on China once their party takes over next year. “For a lot of what the China committee was doing — we’ve already got a Foreign Affairs Committee, we’ve already got the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,” California’s Rep. Ami Bera, the top Democrat on that subcommittee, told Semafor. “We could do a lot of the work; I think Ways and Means [Committee] could do a lot of the trade policy stuff.” A spokesperson for New York’s Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs committee, told Semafor that “we will follow the lead of the incoming speaker on how he wants to handle the China select committee, but the Foreign Affairs Committee is well poised to conduct oversight of this administration’s China policy.” The committee’s current chair, Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, released a statement last week urging Democrats not to dismantle it. Other Democrats are pushing for the committee to broaden its focus beyond China if the
Some Democrats are encouraging leaders to scrap the House’s Select Committee on China once their party takes over next year. Some Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are encouraging leaders to scrap the chamber’s Select Committee on China once their party takes over next year. “For a lot of what the China committee was doing — we’ve already got a Foreign Affairs Committee, we’ve already got the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,” California’s Rep. Ami Bera, the top Democrat on that subcommittee, told Semafor.
“We could do a lot of the work; I think Ways and Means [Committee] could do a lot of the trade policy stuff.” A spokesperson for New York’s Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs committee, told Semafor that “we will follow the lead of the incoming speaker on how he wants to handle the China select committee, but the Foreign Affairs Committee is well poised to conduct oversight of this administration’s China policy.” The committee’s current chair, Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, released a statement last week urging Democrats not to dismantle it.
Other Democrats are pushing for the committee to broaden its focus beyond China if they opt to keep it next Congress. Still others in the party are worried about the politics of axing the committee for parochial committee leadership reasons, given recent China-related controversies. “Politically, they’re not smart, because they could use this against Trump, who’s being basically pro-China,” a person familiar with the jockeying told Semafor.
“Maybe modify it [or] alter it in terms of scope — but to shut it down or make it part of the Foreign Affairs Committee is honestly dumb.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who as speaker would have the final say over the future makeup of select panels, said earlier this week he would discuss the issue with incoming committee leaders this morning. Some of them have also pushed back against the idea of forming a select panel on AI next year as Democratic committee leaders look to reserve their own turf on AI and other high-profile issues.
Other observers have noted that the China panel’s jurisdiction extends across that of others, and it has collaborated with the House Oversight, Financial Services, Energy and Commerce, Homeland Security, Appropriations, and Natural Resources committees. At least five groups have sent letters, shared with Semafor, urging leaders to reauthorize the committee come January: the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, With Honor Action, the Alliance for Trade Enforcement NOW, the American Mold Builders Association, and the Forging Industry Association.