House Passes Conference FY 2019 NDAA Containing Anti-Huawei/ZTE, CFIUS Revamp

The House voted 359-54 Thursday to approve the conference version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515), which contains language to bar U.S. agencies from using “risky” technology produced by ZTE or fellow Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei. The conferees agreed to attach the Huawei/ZTE language originally included in the House-passed HR-5515 instead of a harder-line anti-ZTE provision in the Senate-passed version (see 1807200053). The Senate language would have reinstated a 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 ban earlier this month (see 1807130048). The conference HR-5515 also includes a modified version of the language from the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act that originally appeared in the Senate-passed NDAA (see 1807190064). That HR-4311/S-2098 language would expand the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to probe more investments, including in "critical" technology or infrastructure companies (see 1804260029). The Trump administration didn't mention the ZTE language in a statement lauding House passage of the conference HR-5515. It said the HR-4311/S-2098 language “achieves the twin aims of protecting our national security and preserving our long-standing open investment policy.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed Thursday for cloture on the conference HR-5515, setting up a floor vote next week.