Claudia Tenney is a former of member of Congress from New York, where she served on the House Financial Services Committee. She is seeking the Republican nomination in the 22nd Congressional District.
By Claudia Tenney | Special to Syracuse.com
The coronavirus exposed many flaws in our level of preparedness for dealing with pandemics, but one of the most glaring holes it brought to light is America’s over-reliance on China for producing prescription drugs.
For the sake of our economy and more importantly our health and security, it’s time we brought that home.
China is a real and present danger to America and Americans.
Just as we try to stem the economic slide as personal lives and business come to a halt, the U.S. Treasury must borrow to finance the stimulus package. Before the crisis, China held 20% of all foreign-held debt – over $1 trillion.
That is a lot of leverage for Beijing. If they were to sell our bonds, they could exacerbate the crisis and the American government’s tenuous financial state. Our economy would be debilitated for years.
And they are already engaged in direct economic warfare. China steals $600 billion a year from American individuals and companies in intellectual property. That is the ideas and designs that American minds develop and provide to the market – from movies and fashion to computer systems and chemical compounds like pharmaceuticals.
In the last decade, China stole computer chips, a brilliant paint color, advanced corn seeds, and a revolutionary steel recipe. Each would grow our economy, enrich workers, and strengthen our manufacturing industries. But China now undercuts our business’s prices and steals American workers’ jobs.
But there’s a more immediate threat to America – and it’s a matter of life and death.
China makes 90% of all antibiotics, vitamin C, ibuprofen, and over 70% of acetaminophen (Tylenol) available in the U.S. They also make many of the ingredients and do so in unsafe and unmonitored labs and factories.
In 2018, a common blood pressure medicine made in China was found to cause cancer, and 10 years earlier, a contaminated Chinese-made batch of the blood thinner heparin killed 81 people. China still makes 45% of the U.S. supply.
And the FDA cannot consistently inspect the makers and test the products coming from China – leaving us at the whims of the corrupt cronies of Beijing’s leaders who profit off cutting corners on live-saving drugs.
Coronavirus has shown us the Chinese cannot be trusted and they should no longer be relied on – especially for vital medical treatments and supplies. It’s not just risky for patients, it’s a threat to national security for China to be able to hold us hostage or worse, poison us.
Claudia Tenney, pictured Oct. 22, 2018, is a former of member of Congress from New York, where she served on the House Financial Services Committee. She is seeking the Republican nomination in the 22nd Congressional District. (N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com)N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syra
In the midst of this crisis, Communist China’s government-run media threatened to choke off the supplies of these drugs to throw us into “the mighty sea of coronavirus."
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a decorated Iraq war veteran, is advancing a bill to end China’s leverage over the American people and our economy over these vital medicines. It encourages American drug makers to manufacture here at home and blocks Chinese-made drugs and ingredients. This industry is too important to leave in the hands of the brutal and dangerous regime in Beijing.
Such incentives must be extended to the production of rare earth metals – used for thousands of electronics applications and military equipment – that only China produces even though we have the world’s largest reserves in the ground. The only American mine shut down in 2002, was re-opened briefly, and later sold off to a firm partially owned by the Chinese.
Now those American-mined minerals are sent back to China. In Congress, I recognized threats of Chinese infiltration and takeovers of American industry and worked to monitor these transactions and crack down on ones that hurt U.S. national interests. I also fought to increase “Made in America” defense sourcing.
President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on the predatory Chinese for their unfair trade practices, and China once again threatened to cut off our rare earth supply.
When we come out of this crisis, we must move quickly to restore our industrial base, bring supply chains of national interest back to America, and punish Chinese theft and aggression.
Breaking China’s grip on our country is essential for our economic survival, military strength, and American’s very health.
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