Take Action! Tell Congress to Support the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act
We've written fairly extensively about the threat that Chinese state-owned companies like the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) and Build Your Dreams (BYD) pose to both good-paying jobs and our national security. AAM President Scott Paul even testified about it at a Congressional hearing a few weeks back.
Now you have a chance to weigh in!
In case you need to catch up, here's the deal. CRRC and BYD are owned and controlled by the Chinese government, which is seeking to systematically drive competitors out of the market and create a monopoly in both the rail (CRRC) and bus (BYD) production markets. CRRC has severely underbid competitors for contracts to build railcars in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, while BYD has nabbed contracts in Los Angeles and Albuquerque.
China's goal isn't to make money, as companies that operate in a free and open market would. Rather, it wants to completely take over the entire production of America's rail and bus systems as part of its "Made in China 2025" plan. This, of course, creates a number of national security risks — from potential spying on passengers to hacking into transit systems — as well as big economic worries, as there are currently 90,000 good-paying jobs in the U.S. that depend on transit production.
Bipartisan legislation in the Senate and House called the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act aims to address this threat, as it would prevent America's tax dollars from being spent on transit made by Chinese state-owned enterprises like CRRC and BYD. Momentum is building for these measures in both chambers, attracting a wide-array of cosponsors on both sides of the aisle. And as our own Scott Paul wrote in a recent letter sent to Members of Congress, it comes at a critical time, as CRRC and BYD are having "a profoundly negative impact on established, private-sector U.S. firms and jeopardizing supply chains that employ tens of thousands of American workers." Paul continues:
"It is vital that the United States act to prevent the destruction of the U.S. competitive landscape for rolling stock manufacturing before it is too late. America's tax dollars should not be used to support Chinese state-owned firms seeking to undermine market competition."
It's your turn. Tell your Members of Congress to support the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act.
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Reposted from AAM
