Discussion · Senate
Elissa Slotkin Democrat
“I want the Senate to pass this bill to ban Chinese car parts and software from being sold here. These cars have cameras and sensors that can spy on our military bases and our citizens, and send that data back to China. They also hurt American manufacturing and risk over a million auto jobs in Michigan.”
“Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Connected Vehicle Security Act. I want to acknowledge what a rare thing this is as we sit on the floor, myself and Senator Moreno, a Democrat and a Republican, working together on an issue of common cause. It is a bipartisan bill that would protect America’s auto industry and would protect our manufacturing base and protect our national security above all else. Now, I am completely biased. I am the junior Senator from Michigan. The auto industry helped build America, helped invent the middle class. Millions of workers in the State of Michigan work in some way associated with the auto industry. And that is why I feel very strongly that we must ban Chinese cars from ever being sold in the United States. Now, on our national security, I am a former CIA officer and Pentagon official. This is my bread and butter. I just want to be clear that Chinese cars--with their high-end video, with their LiDAR, with their geolocation, with their ability to collect on our important infrastructure sites, our military bases, the ability to track where an individual leader is driving, the ability for these cars to be hacked and remotely piloted--it does provide a threat to the everyday American and our national security. It is literally a driving spy machine on wheels. All of that data and all of that information goes back to Beijing. It is not held in the United States. These cars connect to the internet. They take videos of our kids. They track individual movements. Now, we all know that as the Senator from Michigan, I am going to care about our economic security. A million plus jobs are associated in the State of Michigan with the auto industry. But the advantage that I think the Chinese are trying to get is to get a foothold into the country, start bringing those cars over our borders, over our bridges and our tunnels, set up shop here in the United States so that they can get access to the extremely lucrative market in the United States. What this bill does is it bans vehicle hardware and software that are designed, developed, or manufactured in China by Chinese companies. That means they can’t be imported, manufactured, or sold here. This is not a partisan issue. We have sent out the bill to all of our colleagues, and by a very, very strong majority, they have come back and said yes. That doesn’t happen every single day. It is supported by our automakers, by organized labor--a broad coalition of individuals and institutions that know that if we threaten our American auto establishment and we threaten our manufacturing base, we threaten our ability to be a powerhouse in manufacturing across the world. It is cosponsored by more than 50 Senators on both sides of the aisle. I want to thank Senator Moreno for his cooperation and his team’s cooperation. We have worked this painstakingly over months to keep stakeholders involved. He and I don’t agree on everything, but we certainly agree that letting in these cars subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party would be the end of the American auto industry. That is not going to happen on my watch. I know that is not going to happen on his watch. I want to thank everybody who came and worked hard in this partisan environment to send a very strong message that Chinese cars are banned here in the United States. I yield the floor.”
Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Connected Vehicle Security Act. I want to acknowledge what a rare thing this is as we sit on the floor, myself and Senator Moreno, a Democrat and a Republican, working together on an issue of common cause. It is a bipartisan bill that would protect America’s auto industry and would protect our manufacturing base and protect our national security above all else. Now, I am completely biased. I am the junior Senator from Michigan. The auto industry helped build America, helped invent the middle class. Millions of workers in the State of Michigan work in some way associated with the auto industry. And that is why I feel very strongly that we must ban Chinese cars from ever being sold in the United States. Now, on our national security, I am a former CIA officer and Pentagon official. This is my bread and butter. I just want to be clear that Chinese cars--with their high-end video, with their LiDAR, with their geolocation, with their ability to collect on our important infrastructure sites, our military bases, the ability to track where an individual leader is driving, the ability for these cars to be hacked and remotely piloted--it does provide a threat to the everyday American and our national security. It is literally a driving spy machine on wheels. All of that data and all of that information goes back to Beijing. It is not held in the United States. These cars connect to the internet. They take videos of our kids. They track individual movements. Now, we all know that as the Senator from Michigan, I am going to care about our economic security. A million plus jobs are associated in the State of Michigan with the auto industry. But the advantage that I think the Chinese are trying to get is to get a foothold into the country, start bringing those cars over our borders, over our bridges and our tunnels, set up shop here in the United States so that they can get access to the extremely lucrative market in the United States. What this bill does is it bans vehicle hardware and software that are designed, developed, or manufactured in China by Chinese companies. That means they can’t be imported, manufactured, or sold here. This is not a partisan issue. We have sent out the bill to all of our colleagues, and by a very, very strong majority, they have come back and said yes. That doesn’t happen every single day. It is supported by our automakers, by organized labor--a broad coalition of individuals and institutions that know that if we threaten our American auto establishment and we threaten our manufacturing base, we threaten our ability to be a powerhouse in manufacturing across the world. It is cosponsored by more than 50 Senators on both sides of the aisle. I want to thank Senator Moreno for his cooperation and his team’s cooperation. We have worked this painstakingly over months to keep stakeholders involved. He and I don’t agree on everything, but we certainly agree that letting in these cars subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party would be the end of the American auto industry. That is not going to happen on my watch. I know that is not going to happen on his watch. I want to thank everybody who came and worked hard in this partisan environment to send a very strong message that Chinese cars are banned here in the United States. I yield the floor.