Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik joined The Sean Hannity Show to discuss recent findings from a Government Accountability Office study Stefanik initiated in January of 2021. This shocking study found that between 2015-2021, over $28 million American taxpayers went toward funding joint research between the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Department of Defense (DoD) with Communist China.
Listen to her full interview here.
Highlights of her interview include:
On House Republicans’ commitment to oversight and holding China accountable:
“This is why Congressional oversight is so important. We have oversight over the Agency's use of taxpayer dollars and if it were not for this letter that I wrote with Ranking Member Michael McCaul, who's the leading Republican on House Foreign Affairs Committee […] it almost took two years for the Government Accountability Office to get back to us. But $28 million of funds we know of that went through NIH, CDC, and DoD to Chinese Communist entities for research and development.”
“Democrats have done nothing when it comes to oversight of our dollars. They've done nothing when it comes to getting to the bottom of the origins of COVID, which we know all evidence points to coming from the lab in Wuhan.”
“China is not a partner. They are not an ally. They are not a friend. This is an adversary, and I believe that countering China will be one of the greatest challenges that my generation faces.”
“This stinks to high heaven of a cover-up and certainly, Republicans will make sure that the subpoenas are issued if the documents are not turned over, if all emails are not turned over, and we will haul in the agency heads to testify under oath in front of Congress because the American people absolutely deserve to know where every last cent of U.S. taxpayer dollars go.”
“I am going to stand up to stop any dollars going towards any type of partnership with the Chinese Communist Party for research and development or anything.”
On Communist Chinese corporations buying farmland in the United States:
“I’ve introduced legislation with Rick Crawford who's from Arkansas, and we both serve on the House Intelligence Committee, to stop that from happening. This is an issue that comes up from farmers in my district. I represent a military installation at Fort Drum. I do sit on the House Armed Services Committee, so I'm both concerned about the national security implications of China purchasing up land surrounding our military bases, but also when it comes to food security. Food security is national security, its economic security, and we need to make sure that we have strong U.S. agriculture, that means American-owned farmland.”
“Similar to legislation in the past that has been put into place to stop Chinese Communist investments in businesses or tech companies, which that needs to be strengthened, we need to have a process in place to make sure that our agriculture farmland is not being sold to the Chinese Communist Party, because it's going to impact our food supply. We need to make sure that we have a robust American grown, American produced food supply.”
On the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan:
“I'm very very concerned. And what I'm most concerned about is China is watching this weak Commander in Chief in Joe Biden. Certainly. They were watching when we had a strong Commander in Chief in President Trump, but there is a reason why this saber rattling and this very aggressive Chinese posture is taking place because they see a weak President of the United States.”
“It's also important that we make sure that we continue to invest our dollars to make sure that Taiwan has the defense capabilities to defend itself. That's an important partnership, they're an important ally, and those are important investments to make.”
“Let's not forget that it was under the Obama-Biden era that our national security was gutted with devastating defense cuts that impacted our modernization, that impacted our military readiness. We are just now digging out of that because of the successful defense policies that we delivered under President Trump—only to have a now very weak Commander in Chief in Joe Biden. This is one of the reasons why House Republicans will have a Select China Committee.”
On the upcoming midterm elections:
“I think we have a historic election if we pick up 35 [seats]. That will be the largest majority since the Great Depression. I think the polls are underestimating the enthusiasm and Republican support. I think the mainstream media is working overtime to try to suppress Republican voters and boost Democratic turnout.”
