Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida plans to introduce a bill on Thursday that mandates federal contractors disclose their ties to communist China in an effort to protect the United States’s economic and national security from the eager adversary.
“It is common sense that any company working with the U.S. government should publicly disclose its connection to the Chinese Government and Communist Party and related entities,” Rubio said in a statement to The Federalist.
Not only would the Federal Acquisitions and Contracting Transparency (FACT) Act require that companies paid by the federal government to do a specific job disclose their relationships with communist China, its military, and businesses controlled by the authoritarian regime, but it also demands that companies “disclose any new contracts with entities of concern throughout the duration of their contract with the federal government.”
“It is no secret that the CCP will lie, cheat, and steal to strengthen itself at the expense of America’s economic and national security,” Rubio continued. “American workers, entrepreneurs, and families have been the victims of the CCP’s aggression for far too long. Previously undisclosed relationships between federal contractors and CCP-related entities may pose serious institutional conflicts of interest. Transparency is a critical step to addressing the systemic challenge we face from the CCP.”
The bill comes just months after Rubio pressed McKinsey and Co., a consulting firm, about its ties to the communist regime and the possibility that it shared information about America’s opioid epidemic with “a client in China or member of the CCP” and discussed “China’s importation of fentanyl into the United States.”
While the consulting firm is not directly mentioned in the bill, Rubio previously warned that the company “either wittingly or unwittingly — is aiding the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to supplant the United States and remake the international community in its own image” after the firm refused to answer his questions about its relationship with China.
“McKinsey’s inability to provide clear, direct answers only exacerbates those concerns and raises serious questions as to whether our government — including the Intelligence Community — should continue to use McKinsey’s services,” Rubio said in late 2020.
McKinsey recently settled with the state of Nevada for $45 million after it knowingly spread propaganda that contributed to the state’s opioid crisis. The firm not only recommended that its client, Purdue Pharma, offer rebates to doctors and distributors whose patients overdosed on the addictive pills they sold, but also advised the pharmaceutical company to “turbocharge” Oxycontin sales by issuing more prescription doses, some with higher levels of potency, a campaign that lasted for 15 years.
