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Scalise: Secure Equipment Act Protects Americans' Data From Chinese National Security Threats

November 2, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Dana Loesch on The First to discuss his bipartisan legislation that he introduced with Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), the Secure Equipment Act of 2021, which unanimously passed the Senate last week and is expected to be signed into law. Whip Scalise explained that the Secure Equipment Act protects the privacy and security of U.S. citizens by preventing China from infiltrating America's telecommunications network and compromising American national security. Additionally, Whip Scalise denounced President Biden for apologizing for America at the international climate conference in Europe while China and Russia continue to emit carbon at dramatically higher rates than the U.S.


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Click here or on the image above to watch the interview.

On the Secure Equipment Act preventing companies listed as national security threats from being licensed by the FCC:

"This is one of those bills that we worked on for a long time — a few years in the making. [Rep.] Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, has been working on this with me for a number of years. And we've been concerned about, as data flows across our networks, people use the internet in so many ways. With so many smart devices, you're not even realizing how much of your data is moving across networks, some of which are [foreign-owned] entities, including Chinese companies. So, we started working with the FCC and a few years ago passed a law to make the FCC identify companies that are national security threats. They did that, but one of the flaws that we saw in that law was that even though a company would be identified as a national security threat, they could still sell and be licensed in the United States. So, that's when I went to work to put this bill forward, and Anna Eshoo, like I said, was the co-sponsor of this bill. It says if a company ends up on the FCC's list as a company that is a national security threat to America, then they cannot be licensed by the FCC. So, there are now five companies that are listed as national security threats — all Chinese-owned. So, this bill says they can no longer be licensed by the FCC, and it protects American data for those Americans that are sending data across networks. They will no longer be worried that these companies will be getting control of their data."

On how the Secure Equipment Act protects Americans' data:

"[Huawei and ZTE] are probably the two most prominent companies that still have a lot of equipment out there where Americans' data runs across those networks. They would no longer be able to be licensed by the FCC, again, because they're listed as national security threats. This took a lot of work. It probably doesn't get the attention it should because it was Republicans and Democrats working together. There are still some things where we're able to put these coalitions together. This took a lot of work of all of us coming together, and like I said, credit to Anna Eshoo, who really took this seriously as well. She represents part of Silicon Valley. I've got a computer science degree. We've worked on technology issues together in the past, and we know how much of a threat this is because people use so many different forms of technology, and you know, maybe your smartphone is the main device you use, but there's a lot of others. TVs are now smart devices, too. The backbones of a lot of these networks are companies you've never heard of, and yet your data is running across those networks. [This bill] just says, look, the FCC regulates all this. If the FCC identifies any company as a national security threat, they can no longer get licensing from the federal government. So, it protects the data of Americans whether they realize their data is running across those networks or not."

On the importance of bipartisan legislation strengthening America's national security:

"Credit card information, social security information, breaches of your personal data. You sure would care about it if your credit card was stolen and you called and said, ‘Cancel the card.' Well, what if you didn't even know that the credit card was stolen and charges might pop up? Again, the Chinese Communist Party has access. They can go to these companies and say, ‘You've got to give us the data,' if you're a Chinese-owned company, and you don't even know it. You might have an Apple phone, and you're running it across Verizon, AT&T, or some other network. You don't realize that at some point, it may be going through a Huawei or a ZTE device, and you don't even realize it. Well now, if they're listed as national security threats, it cannot run across those networks here in America because they can't get licensed by the FCC once this bill is signed into law. It passed overwhelmingly in the House [and] passed unanimously last week in the Senate. Again, it didn't get a lot of attention because it was one of those areas where we really did work together on something that I think is a very important national security issue, and it's now going to the President's desk. Hopefully, he can sign quickly so that we can get that extra layer of protection for Americans and their data."

On President Biden apologizing for America at the international climate conference while China and Russia continue to emit higher levels of carbon:

"Instead of [President Biden] going to other countries apologizing for America, he should recognize the fact that the United States of America was one of the very few countries that actually reduced our carbon emissions by getting out of the Paris Accord. ... China and Russia are laughing at this conference. By the way, I'd love to see the carbon footprint of all those private jets flying over to Scotland to tell other people not to use fossil fuels — a lot of irony in that. We were the country that was leading the way on reducing carbon emissions by not being in the Paris Accord. He failed to mention that when he was too busy apologizing for America. It was American technology that reduced our emissions. Now, we're literally putting a stranglehold on America's economy. By the way, it's going to increase global emissions because by exempting China [and Russia], you're actually going to send more jobs to countries that emit higher levels of carbon. We should be making more things in America. This also increases the cost for families. Inflation in America is already out of control. This makes inflation even worse. Household electricity costs are higher. You're paying more at the pump because of these kinds of policies. They [killed the Keystone XL pipeline] in America, but [green lit] the Russian pipeline. President Biden says, ‘Don't drill in America,' but then he begs OPEC to drill more and produce more, which by the way, they said they're not going to do, but they emit more carbon. If [Saudi Arabia] is drilling for oil, they're emitting a lot more carbon than America because we have higher standards. Stop bashing America. Stop beating up on America. Make more things in America. We were leading the way in reducing emissions through American technology. Don't hurt our economy and then give a gift [to] Russia and China."