Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., told Newsmax on Monday he doesn't believe Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is taking seriously the national security implications of firms tied to the Chinese Communist Party from expanding operations on U.S. soil with the help of taxpayer dollars.
In August, Gotion Inc., a maker of electric vehicle batteries with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), announced it had purchased 270 acres in Green Charter Township in western Michigan to build a $2.4 billion battery plant. The site of the plant is about 100 miles south of Camp Grayling, the largest National Guard training base in the U.S. Gotion will receive $175 million in state grants, and tax exemptions from the state will save it $540 million over 30 years.
"The only thing that can prevent that is a CFIUS review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. that should be analyzing these kinds of investments by foreign entities and considering national security as a risk that encompasses this project," Moolenaar, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Moolenaar and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., wrote a letter to Yellen on Wednesday asking her deny CCP-based companies from qualifying for tax incentives available to companies under the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last year.
Moolenaar said Gotion has requested a CFIUS review, but only on its land purchase and not on what it will be doing with the land.
"Unfortunately, this Treasury Secretary has not taken this seriously," Moolenaar said. "We brought it up to her in the Appropriations Committee process. They recently had a hearing on it and the Financial Services Committee is pressing her to take this more seriously.
"She's made statements now that she will, but unfortunately, it's been moving along and they really need to step in and stop this project."
In December, CFIUS said it lacked jurisdiction to review the purchase of 300 acres of North Dakota farmland by the Fufeng Group, a Chinese food manufacturer with ties to the CCP. The purchased land for a $700 million corn milling plant was about 20 miles north of Grand Forks Air Force Base. Moolenaar said the U.S. military stepped in to stop the deal.
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