The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation to take steps to further crack down on the use of telecom products from companies deemed to be a national security threat. The bill was previously approved by the House by a vote of 420-4, and now heads to the President’s desk for signature.
In 2020, the FCC adopted rules to require U.S. carriers to rip out and replace equipment provided by “covered” companies. Companies on this list include China-based Huawei and ZTE, which both Congress and the administration took steps to block from the U.S. due to national security and espionage concerns. The FCC last year formally designated both Huawei and ZTE as national security threats.
While that was an important step, those rules only apply to equipment purchased with federal funding, according to lawmakers. The same equipment can still be used if purchased with private or non-federal government dollars. The Secure Equipment Act closes that loophole, the sponsors note.
The legislation was sponsored in the upper chamber by Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). In the House, the bill was sponsored by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). All four lawmakers celebrated the passage of the Secure Equipment Act, emphasizing threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies.
“Chinese state-directed companies like Huawei and ZTE are known national security threats and have no place in our telecommunications network,” Rubio said in a statement. “I am grateful that the Senate and House passed this bill, which will help keep compromised equipment from bad actors out of critical American infrastructure. Now, President Biden must swiftly sign it into law so that the Chinese Communist Party can no longer exploit this dangerous loophole.”
Markey stressed the need to “animate our technology with our values. Our bipartisan legislation will keep compromised equipment out of U.S. telecommunications networks and ensure our technology is safe for consumers and secure for the United States,” Markey stated.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called on the Commission to close the loophole in March. The agency began a proceeding to seek comment on the proposal in June.
Following Senate passage of the legislation, Carr said the measure “will help ensure that insecure gear from companies like Huawei and ZTE can no longer be inserted into America’s communications networks. We have already determined that this gear poses an unacceptable risk to our national security, so closing what I have called the ‘Huawei loophole’ is an appropriate action for us to take.”
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