House Appropriations Dem raises concerns about Musk's China connections
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to congressional leaders questioning whether Elon Musk helped tank the first bipartisan government funding bill due to language it included about restricting U.S. investments in China.
"It is particularly disturbing that Musk may have sought to upend this critical negotiated agreement to remove a bipartisan provision regulating U.S. investments in China in order to protect his wallet and the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of American workers, innovators, and businesses," DeLauro wrote in the letter Friday.
DeLauro also explained how an outbound investment provision would have kept new technologies in the United States and prevented wealthy investors from offshoring production and U.S. intellectual property to China.
Nearly a quarter of Tesla’s global revenue in 2023 drew from sales of Chinese-made vehicles from the Shanghai factory, she said.
"I urge congressional leadership to return to the deal and include this critical provision that ensures U.S. capabilities and capital do not fuel that of the Chinese Community Party," she said.