09/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/25/2024 12:25
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced the Secure School Buses Act to ensure school bus manufacturers tied to foreign entities and countries of concern, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), do not receive federal funding:
"Under current law, federal funding for public transit is banned from going to companies tied to U.S. adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, but the requirements do not apply to federal funding for school buses," said Senator Blackburn. "Our Secure School Buses Act would close this dangerous loophole and safeguard national security and our nation's students."
"The Clean School Bus Program has provided school districts in Arizona and throughout the country opportunities to modernize their school bus fleets, while supporting bus manufacturers based here in the United States," said Senator Kelly. "This bill ensures companies that receive state support from the Chinese government can't take advantage of this program to unfairly compete against American manufacturers. We've taken these same steps to protect public transit systems, and now it's time we apply the same standard to the buses carrying our kids to school every day."
"It is unacceptable for adversarial nations to receive any benefit at the expense of American taxpayers," said Senator Cornyn. "This bill would prohibit federal dollars from going to subsidiaries and spin-offs of predatory entities in China and other countries of concern that don't have our interests at heart, and I'm glad to support it."
"When we use taxpayer dollars, we should be investing those dollars back into American businesses, workers, and communities - not sending money overseas to adversaries like China," said Senator Baldwin. "I'm proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to ensure taxpayer investments in our children's school buses won't line the pockets of bad actors like China and give them a competitive edge over our workers and businesses."
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SECURE SCHOOL BUSES ACT: |
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Click herefor bill text.