Will Rogers once stated that Congress will go fishing if it isn't scared. It goes insane if you scare it.China: The humorists' wisdom is bearing fruit on both sides of the Capitol.In June, the U.S. Senate passed the U.S. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is a $200-plus billion bill (until recent, a lot) that aims at industrial policy.Yes, the bill has many positive aspects. The foreign relations, finance, and banking sections do smart things. For example, they extend the Generalized System of Preferences in order to protect American markets from Chinese influence.This is smart. But bailing out an industry like semiconductors that is not in dire need of a bailout?They are going fishing at the Capitol's other end.The House Foreign Affairs Committee is currently undergoing a marathon marking up of the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act (EAGLE). It was primarily a collection mandated reports, sense-of-Congress provisions and costly virtue signaling on unrelated topics, such as climate.The majority of the committees seem to be concerned about avoiding attacks on what will continue to be a weak bill in markup.It's a shame because it shouldn't be this way. A bipartisan section on U.S. foreign policy was produced by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Innovation and Competition Act. Although it's not perfect, it is still very serious. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has so far taken a completely partisan approach and has come up with something less serious.There are many great ideas. In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee markup, there were some proposals. One such proposal was Sen. Marco Rubios' amendment to rename the U.S. representative in Taiwan. This amendment requires Senate confirmation.The Houses China task group also submitted proposals, which was an earlier chance for bipartisan cooperation that the majority missed. The Senate made mistakes in its bill, such as imposing a diplomatic boycott by the United States of the 2022 Olympic Games held in China. These things could be strengthened to ensure they remain in the bill.The next step towards creating a comprehensive China bill is the House markup. It is not yet clear how this process will unfold.The Senate U.S. The Innovation and Competition Act was the result of seven committees. Two components were passed by the House, one for science and one for energy. The House Foreign Affairs Committee now examines the foreign policy component.It is possible that each element will need to be passed separately. Problem is, that in such an eventuality, it's possible to bet that the pieces that give the most money to constituents will move. While foreign policy is not generally good for this, government investments almost always are.Will Rogers also stated that he would never run out of material while Congress was in session. Let's hope Congress proves him wrong about its China work.Do you have a comment about this article? Send us an email at [email protected] with your comments. We may publish them in our We Hear You section. Include the article's URL or headline, along with your name and the address of your town or state.
