The letter will almost certainly impel the White House to submit a robust
budget for BIS. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is
also advocating for an increase in the BIS budget to focus on company
subsidiaries and to police dual-use technology, among other measures. Enhanced
funding could also be paired with these and other reforms to the agency.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), House Select
Committee on China Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI), together with House
Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) argued in December that
strengthening export controls is not simply a matter of funding, but also
political will: “Resources alone will not address the shortcomings in our
export control regime. Revoking Huawei licenses, adding BGI and Inspur
subsidiaries to the Entity List, or cutting SMIC off from U.S. technology is
not a matter of money, but political will. Any conversation about additional
resources must be matched with actions that demonstrate BIS is being reformed
into a true national security agency that will do what needs to be done to
counter China and other adversaries.”
Increasing BIS’ budget, however, gives lawmakers an opportunity to enact
reforms at the agency.
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