Dem Support for Chinese Forced Labor Sanctions Imperils Biden’s Solar Energy Agenda

Congressional Democrats' growing appetite for sanctions targeting Chinese companies engaged in the use of forced labor could cripple President Joe Biden's alternative energy aspirations.

Senate Democrats voted Tuesday to pass a $250 billion China competition bill sponsored by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.). The legislation provides the Biden administration with "a broad range of tough authorities" to impose sanctions on Chinese entities "engaging in … the use of forced labor and other human rights abuses." It also calls on the federal government to avoid reaching agreements "with any entity … that has any affiliation with a country that engages in forced labor."

House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Rep. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.) in May introduced his own legislation aimed at countering the communist nation. The bill calls for the outright ban of "all goods, wares, articles, or merchandise" produced "wholly or in part by forced labor from the People's Republic of China." Meeks is expected to incorporate the measure with Schumer and Young's bill, which is now headed to the House.