Killing the budget bill let China off the hook

When Elon Musk helped tank a 1,500-page budget bill last week by leading the charge against it on social media, he also derailed legislation that was meant to prevent U.S. companies from helping China win the technology race against America — the result of several months of painstaking negotiations. Now, supporters of that effort will have to start from scratch, with a new Congress and an unpredictable new president.

The China legislation was not among the provisions of the larger budget bill that Musk called “criminal” or “insane,” such as pay raises for Congress. The Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act of 2024, as the legislation was known, would have authorized the president to impose restrictions on U.S. investment in Chinese companies in key technological sectors including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, nuclear facilities, weapons and mass surveillance. If U.S. companies are allowed to continue funding China’s technological and military modernization, China will be able to exploit American innovations and dominate the industries those technologies create.

The leaders of both parties in both chambers had signed off on the China legislation, which was a personal priority of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

Democrats allege Musk was doing a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This is particularly concerning given Elon Musk’s extensive investments in China in key sectors and his personal ties with Chinese Communist Party leadership,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (New York), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, wrote in a letter. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) alleged on X this is why Musk opposed the bill in the first place. Musk responded by calling DeLauro an “awful creature” and saying she should be expelled from Congress.

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