WEBVTT - Dan Flatley on Defense Bill (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>US Congress preparing to pass legislation revamping US policy towards

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<v Speaker 1>Taiwan and restricting government use of Chinese semiconductors. This is

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<v Speaker 1>a major let's drill into this a bit, joining US

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<v Speaker 1>Live as a Bloomberg Congressional corresponded Daniel Flatley, Uh, Dan,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks so much for doing this. So this does a

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<v Speaker 1>number of things because it's tied to the Pentagon, the

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<v Speaker 1>defense budget. So where does it stand now in the

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<v Speaker 1>House and other hopes earlier that it would be passed today? Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>so this is part of the National Defense Authorization accident

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<v Speaker 1>of the must pass defense bill that Congress takes up

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much at the end of every year, um, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's almost a guaranteed, uh thing that that they will

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<v Speaker 1>pass it. I think it's been sixty years or sixty

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<v Speaker 1>one years since they haven't done that. But the main

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<v Speaker 1>thing here is that this will provide or authorize up

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<v Speaker 1>to ten billion dollars over five years in arms sales

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<v Speaker 1>to Taiwan. Obviously, the intent there is to help the

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<v Speaker 1>island protect itself against the potential invasion by mainland China.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's one of the main things. And then you

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<v Speaker 1>have also, as you mentioned, the provisions related to restrictions

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<v Speaker 1>on semiconductors used by US companies. I think this is

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<v Speaker 1>mainly aimed at military contractors or federal contractors who are

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<v Speaker 1>working with the government and maybe procuring chips for fighter

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<v Speaker 1>jets or other kinds of military tech. But this is

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<v Speaker 1>something that sort of signals the interest on the part

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<v Speaker 1>of the Congress and the Biden administration in tackling this

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<v Speaker 1>chips issue. So let's go through the kind of labyrinth

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<v Speaker 1>of the politics within the Congress and the President. On

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<v Speaker 1>on one hand, you have President Biden trying to smooth

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<v Speaker 1>things out, meeting with jj imping. On the other hand,

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<v Speaker 1>looks like Congress is saying, hey, let's go, let's go

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<v Speaker 1>heads up on this. Yeah. I think this is sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the classic good cop bad cop routine. Um, you

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<v Speaker 1>have the meeting between President Joe Biden and Resident Jiji

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<v Speaker 1>and Ping of China UH in recent weeks, which really

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<v Speaker 1>was sort of a pressure release valve for the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>China relationship, which it had really experienced a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>ratcheting up in tensions over the preceding a few months,

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<v Speaker 1>especially with the visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

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<v Speaker 1>So you certainly have that dynamic at play, but you

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<v Speaker 1>also have a continued interest on the part of Congress

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<v Speaker 1>and also parts of the administration as well, in really

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<v Speaker 1>tackling the issue with competition with China, and so I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think you'll see much slowing down as as far

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<v Speaker 1>as that aspect of it goes. If anything, there may

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<v Speaker 1>be some more confrontation when the Republicans take over the

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<v Speaker 1>House of Representatives next year, but you will see sort

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<v Speaker 1>of a balance balancing act I think to a certain

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<v Speaker 1>extent between the administration and Congress, where they are trying

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<v Speaker 1>to ratchet up the confrontation or the competition in certain areas,

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<v Speaker 1>but also kind of keep the lines of communication open

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<v Speaker 1>and kind of keep things within some some bounds of reason. Dan,

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<v Speaker 1>I want to just there for just a second here, Um,

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<v Speaker 1>a demonstration today or protests or whatever you want to

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<v Speaker 1>call it, Washington, d C. Regarding a firmer gun control. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>people talk about that often on it does not look

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<v Speaker 1>like anything is going to get done now in this

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<v Speaker 1>session of Congress, means it may not be done under

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<v Speaker 1>Republican control in the House as well. Yeah, I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's probably right. Um. For a variety of reasons. This

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<v Speaker 1>has emerged as one of the stickiest issues that any

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<v Speaker 1>congress or any presidential administration is going to have to

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<v Speaker 1>grapple with. Uh. There hasn't really been any major legislation

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<v Speaker 1>since the new Town, Connecticut incident and several years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>with the exception of some some adjustments this summer, and

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<v Speaker 1>I think that that will largely continue to be the case,

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<v Speaker 1>simply be because the polars sation in the country is

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<v Speaker 1>such that any movement on this to the left or

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<v Speaker 1>to the right is sort of viewed as as a

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<v Speaker 1>betrayal by by voters on those uh, you know, on

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<v Speaker 1>either side of the issue. So I think that that's

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<v Speaker 1>going to continue to be the case. But we'll see

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<v Speaker 1>what happens in the new session. Yeah, nothing happening in

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<v Speaker 1>this session, all right, Dan, thank you very much. That

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<v Speaker 1>is Bloombers Daniel Flatley, Congressional reporter,