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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and two other Republicans introduced their own bill Thursday to prevent U.S. companies from doing business with a Chinese tech giant that they say poses a threat to national security.
Romney, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also urged the Senate Armed Forces Committee to include a similar provision in the 2020 defense spending bill.
The Huawei Prohibition Act of 2019 would ensure Huawei Technologies Co. is not removed from the Commerce Department’s list of sanctioned companies until after the commerce secretary certifies that the company no longer poses a national security threat.
"As Congress continues to take steps toward protecting our national security against the threat China poses, it is vital that Huawei does not have access to our critical telecommunications infrastructure," Romney said in a statement.
The bill will prohibit U.S.-based companies from doing business with Huawei until it no longer poses a national security threat, he said.
Earlier this week, Romney signed onto a bipartisan bill that would do essentially the same thing.
The Defending America's 5G Future Act would codify President Donald Trump’s recent executive order and prohibit the removal of Huawei from the Commerce Department list without an act of Congress. It differs from the Romney bill in that his bill calls for the commerce secretary to certify Huawei is no longer a threat to the U.S. rather than Congress.
"Adding Huawei to the Commerce Department’s banned entity list was one of the most important moves by the Trump administration in America’s long-term strategic competition with the totalitarian Chinese government and Communist Party,” Rubio said in a statement. “Congress must protect that action and this important legislation does just that."
