WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed the need to counter threats from China through the national defense authorization bill instead of Majority Leader Schumer’s partisan “China bill 2.0.” Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Last month, the Majority Leader announced an effort to compile what he called ‘China bill 2.0.’”

“There is a clear and urgent need to counter threats from China, but there’s a better way than ‘China 2.0.’”

“Our Democratic colleagues can’t resist the urge to mix partisan politics along with urgent national security legislation, so every one of these bills tends to become a vehicle for unrelated items.”

“If the true goal is to counter threats from China, the Majority Leader doesn’t need a new working group to draft a bill from scratch because there’s already a strong bipartisan effort under way.”

“Our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee are working around the clock to prepare this year’s defense authorization bill.”

“The bipartisan national defense authorization bill should be the centerpiece of our efforts… not a bill put together behind closed doors with members having only the chance to vote yes or no in final passage. Senators on both sides will have an opportunity, in contrast under the NDAA, to offer amendments and to be able to shape that bill.”

“We can’t afford to repeat last year’s drama when Senator Schumer allowed the NDAA to languish on the Senate calendar for more than five months without any action. If the Majority Leader truly cares about countering threats from China, he’ll abandon his partisan ‘China 2.0 bill’ and allow the Senate to pass a strong and on-time National Defense Authorization Act.”