Pallone, Watson-Coleman oppose setting up House select committee on China

Newly-minted Speaker Kevin McCarthy notched an early bipartisan win on Tuesday when an overwhelming House majority –  365 to 65 – voted to establish a select committee to probe “strategic competition” between the U.S. and China’s communist regime.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s influence is the single greatest threat to our country today, and the United States needs to implement tough policies to protect our citizens, our military, and our IP from their aggression,” said Tom Kean Jr. (R, NJ-07) following the vote. “The work of this bipartisan select committee will lay important groundwork to ensure our county prevails in the face of our global adversaries today, and for years to come.”

146 Democrats joined the GOP majority to support the proposal along with most of New Jersey’s Democrat members.

Most.

Two of the Garden State’s far-Left representatives – Frank Pallone (NJ-06) and Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ-12) – joined 63 other Democrats in opposing the legislation.

The goal of the committee is to make recommendations concerning how the U.S. can combat Chinese theft of intellectual property and strengthen our supply chain which has become overly-dependent on Beijing.

It’s entirely unclear which part of that is unpalatable to Pallone and Watson-Coleman? Other than the fact that their own statist, socialist, anti-American exceptionalism worldviews aren’t entirely alien to the priorities of a communist regime. Pallone has spoken out in the past regarding the genocide of Uyghur Muslims. Is it simply a matter of not wanting to give credit to a GOP House for tackling a problem his own caucus failed to address when they had complete control of Capitol Hill?

The motivation doesn’t matter. The vote isn’t defensible.

Matt Rooney
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MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.