(The Center Square)— Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego and Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher introduced a bipartisan bill with Senate backing in order to limit the financial power of the Chinese Communist Party in Latin America.
The bill, known as the Inter-American Development Bank Transparency Act, centers around the bank of the bill’s namesake and how China may leverage the bank for its own gain.
According to the IDB’s website, its goal is to stimulate economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean through financing projects. However, China continues to get a high number of contracts from the bank even though they only have 0.1% ownership of the institution, according to a news release, as the communist nation continues to increase its presence in the Western world.
“Maintaining the United States’ partnership with our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors is critical to our nation’s economy and security,” Gallego said in the release. “We must hold the PRC accountable for using the Inter-American Development Bank as a tool to expand its influence. I’m proud to co-lead this bipartisan legislation so we fully understand the PRC’s destabilizing activities in the Western Hemisphere.”
The major goals of the legislation include asking the Department of Treasury for a report on the Chinese Communist Party’s “influence” in the bank and contracts and if any IDB projects are located by American military bases. In addition, it would compel the federal government to actively work against the Chinese government’s seemingly vast involvement with the Washington D.C.-based bank.
Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, warned that the Chinese government has been self-serving in its work with the IDP.
“For too long, the Chinese Communist Party has exploited its presence in the Inter-American Development Bank to advance its own geopolitical, economic, and technological goals. Latin American citizens deserve to have the IDB serve their economic development, not as a vector of CCP malign influence,” he said in the release.
Other notable lawmakers co-sponsoring the legislation include House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Marco Rubio and others.
