A Massachusetts lawmaker who frequently criticizes China has become the unlikely face of opposition to legislation that seeks to blacklist Chinese contractors like WuXi Biologics.
Last month, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) failed to stop the House of Representatives from passing the Biosecure Act. But he persuaded a surprising number of influential Democrats to vote “no” and is now in conversations with senators and House representatives about amending the legislation as it moves to the Senate.
As distrust of China reaches a fever pitch in Congress, drugmakers with supply chains threatened by Biosecure
have been unwilling to publicly oppose the legislation
for fear of political blowback. The opposition mantle has been assumed by McGovern, who argues the bill lacks due process and resembles how the Chinese government operates.
“I’m at the point in my career where I’m going to vote in ways I think [are] right. I’m not going to go along to get along,” McGovern said in an interview with
Endpoints News
.
To his critics, McGovern isn’t taking a principled stand but rather protecting WuXi Biologics’ plans to build a 190,000-square-foot biomanufacturing plant in his district. WuXi reportedly cited Biosecure when pausing work on the facility earlier this year,
Endpoints previously reported
.
“If people say this is about a business in my district, and that’s it, I resent that,” McGovern said.
Elected to Congress in 1997 and representing Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District, McGovern might seem like a natural ally to the Biosecure Act. The legislation targets five companies — WuXi Biologics, WuXi AppTec, BGI, MGI and Complete Genomics — over fears that they could furnish China’s government with sensitive health information.
A member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, he sponsored a recent law that advocates for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute.
“I despise bullies, and I want an even playing field when I think people are being persecuted,” McGovern said.
In July, the Chinese government sanctioned him for “frequently interfering” in its domestic affairs, an action that he wears as a badge of honor.
Nick Shipley, founder of the biopharma consulting firm Cronus Consulting, said McGovern is uniquely positioned to lead the charge against Biosecure.
“He’s not necessarily vulnerable to some of the electoral politics that others are, and his record on China is viewed as strong,” Shipley said.
McGovern is widely expected to win reelection in November, in a race in which the economy and border eclipse China as top issues. His independent challenger in the upcoming election
acknowledged it would be “really, really, really tough” to prevail
.
During this election cycle, McGovern has raised $979,000, largely from healthcare facilities and trade unions, according to the campaign spending website OpenSecrets.org. He received contributions from two privately-held biopharma companies: $9,900 from Dragonfly Therapeutics and $6,600 from Ischemix. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
There are limits to McGovern’s hawkish views on China. He cited free speech concerns when voting against the TikTok ban. McGovern believes Biosecure was rushed and doesn’t include strong rationale for why certain companies were added.
“If there’s a bill that comes to the floor and it’s anti-China, then they automatically vote for it with very few questions asked,” McGovern said. “I understand where they’re coming from, but I think it’s important that the legislation we pass be good legislation.”
BGI, one of the five companies named in Biosecure, has allegedly conducted
research alongside
the Chinese military. WuXi AppTec, another firm in the bill, has been
accused of sharing a US client’s intellectual
property with the Chinese government without permission. The companies have denied the accusations.
The inclusion of WuXi AppTec’s sister company, WuXi Biologics, has troubled McGovern. He said a review of classified materials and conversations with administration officials didn’t make a clear case for targeting the company.
“I asked them, basically, ‘Am I crazy? Is this company a really bad actor and I just don’t know?’” he said.
In February, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party asked the Defense, Commerce and Treasury departments to investigate WuXi Biologics and WuXi AppTec. The leaders of the committee said then that WuXi Biologics closely works with the Chinese government, including to reduce the country’s foreign reliance on biomedicine.
WuXi Biologics has stated that it does not pose a threat to national security. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Other members of Congress have walked away from classified briefings with a very different interpretation than McGovern’s. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) said the ties between the companies named in Biosecure and the Chinese government could one day lead to bioweapons that are used against Americans.
“If what he’s waiting for is them to be guilty of creating something that kills Americans because of the data they’ve been able to collect, I think that’s a bad idea,” Wenstrup said in an interview with Endpoints.
Before Biosecure came up for a House vote, McGovern shared his concerns with the bill’s authors. He was coming from a place of influence: McGovern chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, which plays a role in setting the legislative agenda.
What McGovern deemed productive conversations didn’t result in bill changes, he said, and to his surprise, House leadership placed Biosecure on the suspension calendar. That meant the bill couldn’t be amended on the floor and needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
McGovern called up legislators and urged them to vote “no.” He failed. The House voted 306-81 in favor of the bill, though he convinced influential Democrats like Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Jamie Raskin to vote against it. Their offices did not respond to requests for comment.
McGovern believes he could have swung the vote against the bill if given extra time.
“It was rushed to the floor,” McGovern said. “Most of the people I talked to ended up voting ‘no,’ and I think more would have if there was more time.”
The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party disagrees with his assessment. A committee spokesperson said the bill enjoys bipartisan support and was the result of months of “careful consideration and investigation.”
But McGovern’s ability to court big-name Democrats in the House could make the bill’s already complicated path in the Senate even tougher.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who voiced concerns over trade isolationism when casting the lone vote against a Senate committee version of the bill, has pledged to
block quick passage of the legislation
. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
“Even before the House floor vote, it was always questionable what the path forward for this bill was in the Senate,” said Stephen Rademaker, an attorney with Covington & Burling who specializes in international policy.
If not a standalone bill, senators could potentially add Biosecure to the annual defense policy bill.
McGovern said he’s talking with representatives and senators about amending the bill. He wants to bolster the criteria for which companies are included, notably by working more closely with federal agencies to determine if a company is a bad actor.
“I would prefer to go back to the drawing board and start again,” McGovern said.
