A Reminder for Congress for “China Week:” Don’t Weaken Cybersecurity With Misguided Legislation and Regulation

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress continues considering various legislative proposals during “China Week” that aim to counter China’s rising threat to American leadership abroad, members of Congress should be reminded that policymakers are asphyxiating one of America’s most valuable assets. As the economy is increasingly reliant in advanced technologies such as virtual marketplaces, quantum computing, or artificial intelligence, policymakers should be creating a legislative and regulatory environment that should bolster America’s tech industry.

Instead, legislators and regulators have advanced proposals and policies that stymie the growth potential of America’s tech champions.

Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) Executive Director Patrick Hedger offered the following statement:

“We currently live in a digital economy and all the signs point that this will continue to be the way in the future, not the other way around. That makes the American tech sector, which has set itself apart from its peers abroad, an asset to a nation that intends to remain the global economic leader. Policymakers should be leveraging that existing advantage to secure America’s leadership abroad. Especially as potential rivals (like China) emerge.

“Unfortunately, policymakers have shown a desire to step away from the light-touch regulatory approach that powers the American digital economy. Bills like the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act, alongside the Department of Justice’s and Federal Trade Commission’s actions against tech companies, indicate how policymakers have shifted America’s approach to punish the companies that are successful today, and those trying to set themselves up for success in the future.

“Policymakers are concerned with threat of China surpassing the U.S. in emergent technologies like artificial intelligence. It is surprising, to say the least, that the hill is considering bills that would cripple the capacity of American companies to compete in this space, instead of setting the industry up for future success.”