Baldwin Testifies at Senate Hearing on Protecting Workers against China’s Attempts to Undermine American Industries

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in a hearing entitled, “Threats Posed by State-Owned and State-Supported Enterprises to Public Transportation.” Baldwin discussed her bipartisan efforts to prevent federal funds from being used by transit agencies to purchase rail cars or buses manufactured by Chinese state-owned, controlled, or subsidized companies.

In the hearing, Senator Baldwin said, “Wisconsin manufacturers are happy to compete with anyone in the world, but they need a level playing field. China’s non-market economy forces Wisconsin manufacturers to compete with Chinese companies that get free land, free utilities, free R&D, and interest-free loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“These Chinese government-subsidized rivals would be bad enough, but now these companies are increasingly using their U.S. assembly facilities to win taxpayer-funded contracts from the Federal Transit Administration to procure buses and railcars for American cities.

“When taxpayer dollars are spent, we must make every effort to ensure they support American workers and businesses.”

The full video of Senator Baldwin testifying at the Senate Banking Committee hearing is available here.

Senators Baldwin and John Cornyn (R-TX), who also gave testimony today, secured an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 that was signed into law to halt federal transit funds from being used by transit agencies to procure Chinese railcars and buses and ensure transit agencies develop and execute a cybersecurity plan to protect American industries and national security. This amendment was based off the Senators’ bipartisan Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act that was introduced last March.