Critics Blast Hill Negotiators for Adopting Softer ZTE Language in FY 2019 NDAA Conference

Capitol Hill negotiators reconciling the House- and Senate-passed versions of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) chose to adopt what critics view as softer language in the House-adopted HR-5515 aimed at addressing concerns about ZTE instead of harder-line Senate provisions. The House-passed HR-5515 would bar U.S. government agencies from using “risky” technology produced by ZTE or fellow Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei. It would prohibit federal agencies from contracting or buying Huawei or ZTE products (see 1805240064). The Senate-passed HR-5515 included language that would reinstate a recently lifted Department of Commerce ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE. President Donald Trump rejected that proposal before the formal lift of the ZTE ban (see 1807130048). Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Hill critics of administration ZTE actions panned the outcome of the HR-5515 negotiations in statements. “By stripping the Senate’s tough ZTE sanctions provision from the defense bill, President Trump -- and the Congressional Republicans who acted at his behest -- have once again made President Xi [Jinping] and the Chinese Government the big winners and the American worker and our national security the big losers,” Schumer said. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted that Hill negotiators “had to cave” in a deal to keep language from the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (HR-4311/S-2098) attached to HR-5515 (see 1807190064). Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted that negotiators made a “huge mistake” by “caving to the Trump Administration’s demands on ZTE. This can only make our country less safe.”