Democrat to vote against bill banning China's WuXi Biologics, BGI Via Reuters
Written by Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) – A powerful member of the US Congress said on Friday that he would vote against legislation that would restrict business with China. WuXi Biologicals (HK :), BGI and other biotech companies for national security reasons.
Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the ranking member of the House Rules committee, told Reuters he was trying to convince his colleagues to join him in his opposition.
McGovern said there is no plan on how companies are included in the law, and he said he could not get a specific answer as to why Wuxi Biologics was added. The company is building an area in his district.
The Biosecure Act is scheduled to be voted on Monday by the US House of Representatives. Supporters say the law, which could put companies on the block from government contracts, is necessary to protect Americans' health and genetic information and America's pharmaceutical supply chains.
McGovern, the top House Democrat on the Commission on Chinese Executives and a critic of China's human rights abuses, said, “Companies providing sensitive information to the Chinese government is a real and important issue.”
“But the bottom line is, this is a bad debt.”
The bill is scheduled to be voted on under a procedure that limits debate, does not allow for amendments and requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
A spokesman for the House Select Committee on China said “biotech companies see our biggest enemy, the Chinese Communist Party, as posing a serious threat to national security” and that WuXi Biologics, BGI and WuXi AppTec have a visible history of working with the group. .
The law also identifies WuXi AppTec, MGI and Complete Genomics as companies of concern.
The companies deny they pose a threat to US national security and each say they should not be included in the bill.
The legislation must pass the House and Senate before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.
