All Bark and No Bite? The 118th Congress on China

Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics  >  Trustee China Hand

Much attention has been paid to the numerous actions taken on China by the Biden administration, such as sky-high tariffs on EVs and strict export controls on chips, but the 118^th Congress (which runs from January 2023 to January 2025) has also increasingly sought to assert its role in shaping the country’s strategy toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While U.S. foreign policy is shaped principally by the executive branch, crucial aspects of the American approach are the product of Congressional legislation and oversight. Defense spending, investment, trade policy, and other issues are all affected by Congress's budgetary and statutory powers. 

The Trustee Chair has closely followed Congressional activity on China for several years, with previous analyses issued in 2020, 2021 and 2023. The 118th Congress has introduced more laws and regulations mentioning China specifically than in previous sessions. Moreover, concern about China has become so central to policy discourse in the U.S. that China increasingly serves as the motivation for even nominally non-China pieces of legislation. In the 117^th Congress, for example, both the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), while focused on strengthening domestic supply chains and meeting green transition goals, were implemented in the context of efforts to reduce reliance on China.  

Consistent with our earlier efforts, the Trustee Chair has continued to collect data on China-focused bills from the Congress.gov database and the U.S.-China Business Council’s (USCBC) Congressional Legislative Tracker. These sources have been supplemented by additional research. 

Legislative activity related to China picked up in the 116^th Congress and has intensified further, with at least 576 bills with China-related content being introduced since the beginning of the 118^th Congress in 2023 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Total Number of China-Related Bills Introduced in Recent Congresses (2019-2024)

Early 2023 saw a notable surge, with nearly 200 China-related bills introduced by the end of March (see Figure 2). This trend understandably aligns with the tempo of the Congressional calendar. The start of each session brings heightened legislative activity as committees organize, leadership outlines their priorities, and members reintroduce legislation from prior terms. 

Beyond this continued growth in China-related legislation, several other trends stand out.

Figure 2: Waves of New Bills (January 2019–July 2024) 

Trade and Supply-Chain Security Are Top Priorities

In the 117^th  Congress, the top priorities were trade and investment followed by worries about Chinese political influence and human rights in democracy. The priorities of the current 118^th Congress have shifted somewhat. As Figure 3 shows, “trade, investment and commerce” has remained the top issue, but even more clearly than in the past. The number of bills on these topics in the 118^th Congress is already 47% higher than the total number introduced during the entire 117^th Congress.  Moreover, proposed legislation to address supply-chain security grew by 147% and defense bills increased by 127%. While legislation aimed at addressing human rights concerns, Chinese influence, and technology still featured prominently, they received comparatively less attention.  

Figure 3: Issues Addressed in China-Related Bills in the 117^th and 118th Congresses (Number of bills)

Republicans Introduce More Legislation, but Prominent Legislation is Bipartisan

Applying a partisan lens to the data reveals both similarities and differences between Republicans and Democrats in their activism on China. Republican members of Congress have been somewhat more active than their Democratic counterparts. As shown in Figure 4, the number of bills introduced with leading Republican sponsors surged at the beginning of this Congress but notably declined after May 2023, which coincided with the Biden-McCarthy negotiations over the debt ceiling to avoid a government shutdown. In contrast, the number of bills introduced with leading Democratic sponsors has not seen as sharp an increase. However, 249 out of 576 bills introduced have been bipartisan (having both Republican and Democratic sponsors), highlighting growing cooperation on China-related issues, from national security to trade and investment, as well as human rights and democracy. All enacted China-related legislation has received bipartisan support, a signal that despite significant partisan divides on many issues on Capitol Hill, there is sufficient agreement within Congress across party lines to pass legislation on certain China-related issues.

Figure 4: Sponsors’ Party Identification (January 2023–July 2024)

There appears to be a smaller difference between parties when looking at the total number of sponsors for China-related legislation (see Figure 5). 

Figure 5: Sponsors of China-related Legislation 

Leading Legislators on China

To provide a comprehensive understanding of the key figures shaping U.S.-China policy, it is worth highlighting individual members of Congress who have been particularly active on China-related legislation. Figure 6 shows the top 10 legislators who introduced the most China-related bills. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) stands out, with 46 individual bills introduced in this Congress so far. Of course, it’s important to note that introducing legislation is not the ultimate measure of policy influence. 

Figure 6: Legislators Who Introduced the Most China-Related Legislation in 118^th Congress (January 2023 – August 2024)

The Role of the Select Committee 

The 118^th Congress established the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. While the Select Committee does not have the authority to consider legislation, it has been active in shaping the discussion of U.S.-China relations in Congress. The committee has utilized several approaches to achieve this, including holding high-profile hearings, with its first hearing held in prime time, to draw public attention to key issues. Additionally, the committee has conducted fact-finding trips to regions with strategic industries, such as Silicon Valley, to gather insights and engage with stakeholders. 

The committee has targeted numerous specific firms with probes into China related investments, ranging from venture capital firms’ China tech investments to Ford’s planned factory in Michigan to produce batteries through a licensing arrangement with China’s CATL. Moreover, the Select Committee's impact is also reflected in its reports, which cut across multiple Committee jurisdictions. Perhaps the most consequential of these reports is the one it released in December 2023. This report provided 150 recommendations aimed at expanding restrictions on various elements of the U.S.-China economic relationship.  

While the Committee itself does not have legislative jurisdiction, individual members of the Select Committee have introduced several key legislative initiatives aimed at countering China's influence. Drawing on summaries provided on the committee’s website, Figure 7 lists some of the legislation introduced by some of its members. 

Figure 7: Selected Pieces of Legislation Introduced by Members of the Select Committee 

Although the Select Committee is a notable new body focused on China within Congress, it is by no means the only forum in which members discuss policy related to China. For example, the U.S.-China Working Group, which functions similarly to a caucus, chaired by Representatives Rick Larsen (WA-02) and Darin LaHood (IL-16), provides members with diverse points of view on China with a forum to discuss China policy and share information. Prior to the pandemic, the working group had provided members with opportunities to engage directly with Chinese officials by arranging delegations to China. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee both have subcommittees focused on regional issues, including the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific and the East Asia, The Pacific, & International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee,  respectively.  

Moreover, Congress has two legislatively mandated commissions dedicated to China, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which monitors human rights and the development of rule of law in China, and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which monitors the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship with China. Both commissions hold hearings and submit annual reports with their findings to Congress. All of this is to say that although the Select Committee has had an impact on Congress’s discussion of China, it is far from the only voice on Capitol Hill. 

Most China-Related Legislation Never Becomes Law 

Despite the significant number of bills introduced by members of Congress, as Figure 8 shows, very few have actually reached the President’s desk. Of the 574 bills introduced, 25 were passed by the House of Representatives. S.484 - Combating Human Rights Abuses Act of 2023 was the single bill that made it through only the Senate, and only 5 passed both houses and were signed by the President (See Figure 9). This compares to 12 adopted in the 116^th Congress and 4 in the 117^th Congress. That said, it is worth noting that several China-related bills were passed as a part of the large omnibus COMPETES bill in the previous Congress.  

As one would expect, some bills are introduced individually and end up part of a larger vehicle, such as an appropriations or authorization bill. Some notable examples of this include the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Originally introduced independently in March of this year, the Act was later passed as a part of the emergency appropriations package to Ukraine. Additionally, limited provisions of the BIOSECURE Act, first introduced in January, were included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA). Although most bills that were introduced have not been signed into law, the previous examples show Congress’ ability to accelerate the consideration and adoption of high-priority bills by incorporating them into larger legislative vehicles.  

Figure 8: Status of China-Related Bills in 118th Congress (January 2023–August 2024) 

Figure 9: Summary of Enacted China-Related Legislation in the 118th Congress 

According to the USCBC Tracker, around 200 provisions in the FY 2024 NDAA were related to China, making it the single most comprehensive piece of China-related legislation passed this Congress. These provisions largely focus on defense procurement (See Figure 10). While more limited in scope, these provisions do reflect larger areas of concern, such as limiting semiconductor technology transfer to China, limiting certain biotechnology providers from accessing the U.S. market, and screening sensitive outbound investments. 

Figure 10: Select NDAA FY 2024 China-related Provisions 

Conclusion 

While China-related legislation is still largely focused on mainstay areas such as trade, human rights, and Taiwan, China policy writ large is becoming more intertwined with consideration of domestic issues and economic competitiveness. Whether it is the forced divestment of TikTok, a social media app millions of Americans use every day, proposed legislation to prevent Chinese battery maker Gotion from receiving IRA incentives for its planned factory in Michigan or expanded investment in semiconductor manufacturing, China-related legislation is often driven by concerns closer to home.   

There is clearly a bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill that China presents many challenges to the strategic interests of the U.S., but this Congress has enacted less China-related legislation than its most recent predecessors. Whether operating in the context of a Harris administration or another Trump administration, Congress will continue to be active on China-related matters, yet parsing out the signals from the noise — identifying what will are key initiatives and what are initial forays or expressions of opinion — will continue to be crucial to understand it's true impact on both domestic and foreign policy. 

Related Trustee Chair Activity:  

Scott Kennedy, “Codels: Fortifying Congress’s Role on China Policy,” CSIS Trustee China Hand Blog, October 13, 2023.   

Scott Kennedy, “Congress on China: Then and Now,” CSIS Trustee China Hand Blog, June 21, 2021.  

Scott Kennedy, “Thunder Out of Congress on China,” CSIS Trustee China Hand Blog, September 11, 2020.