Cotton, Rubio Introduce Bill Banning Govt. Use of Chinese Telecom Devices

Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) introduced a bill Wednesday to prohibit government use of telecommunications products from two Chinese companies.

The Defending U.S. Government Communications Act would prohibit the U.S. government from purchasing or leasing equipment or services from Huawei or ZTE, according to a statement from Cotton’s office. Cotton said the government should not trust devices from companies so closely linked to the Chinese communist government.

"Huawei is effectively an arm of the Chinese government, and it’s more than capable of stealing information from U.S. officials by hacking its devices," Cotton said. "There are plenty of other companies that can meet our technology needs, and we shouldn’t make it any easier for China to spy on us."

Rubio said the government ought to guard its critical infrastructure closely.

"Chinese telecom companies, like Huawei, are directly linked to the Chinese government and communist party. For national security reasons, we cannot allow a foreign adversary to embed their technology in U.S. government systems or critical infrastructure" Rubio said.

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