By Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) – A leading U.S. Democratic congressman said on Friday he would vote against legislation that would restrict business with Chinese companies WuXi Biologics, BGI and other biotech firms on national security grounds.
Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, told Reuters he was trying to convince his colleagues to join him in opposition.
McGovern said there was no process for determining how companies were included in the legislation, and he could not get a clear answer on why Wuxi Biologics was added. The company is building a plant in his district.
The Biosecure bill is set to be voted on in the House of Representatives on Monday. Supporters say the law, which would subject companies to federal contracting bans, is needed to protect Americans’ personal health and genetic information as well as U.S. pharmaceutical supply chains.
McGovern, the top House Democrat on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and a critic of human rights abuses in China, said: “The fact that companies are providing sensitive information to the Chinese government is a real and significant problem.”
“But the fact is, it’s a poor bill.”
The bill is expected to be put to a vote under a procedure that limits debate, does not allow amendments and requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
A spokesperson for the House Select Committee on China said that “biotech companies beholden to our principal adversary, the Chinese Communist Party, pose an enormous risk to national security” and that WuXi Biologics, BGI and WuXi AppTec have a demonstrated history of collaborating with the party.
The legislation also identifies WuXi AppTec, MGI and Complete Genomics as companies of concern.
The companies deny that they pose a threat to U.S. national security and each say they should not be included in the bill.
The legislation must pass both the House and Senate before President Joe Biden can sign it.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chris Sanders and Edwina Gibbs)
