Kelly, Blackburn, Cornyn, Baldwin Introduce Bill to Stop School Bus Manufacturers Tied to Chinese Communist Party from Receiving Federal Funding

Today, U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Secure School Buses Act to ensure school bus manufacturers tied to foreign entities and countries of concern, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), do not receive federal funding. 

“The Clean School Bus Program has provided school districts in Arizona and throughout the country opportunities to modernize their school bus fleets, while supporting bus manufacturers based here in the United States,” said Kelly. “This bill ensures companies that receive state support from the Chinese government can’t take advantage of this program to unfairly compete against American manufacturers. We’ve taken these same steps to protect public transit systems, and now it’s time we apply the same standard to the buses carrying our kids to school every day.” 

“Under current law, federal funding for public transit is banned from going to companies tied to U.S. adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, but the requirements do not apply to federal funding for school buses,” said Blackburn. “Our Secure School Buses Act would close this dangerous loophole and safeguard national security and our nation’s students.” 

“It is unacceptable for adversarial nations to receive any benefit at the expense of American taxpayers,” said Cornyn. “This bill would prohibit federal dollars from going to subsidiaries and spin-offs of predatory entities in China and other countries of concern that don’t have our interests at heart, and I’m glad to support it.” 

“When we use taxpayer dollars, we should be investing those dollars back into American businesses, workers, and communities – not sending money overseas to adversaries like China,” said Baldwin. “I’m proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to ensure taxpayer investments in our children’s school buses won’t line the pockets of bad actors like China and give them a competitive edge over our workers and businesses.” 

Background:  

Several years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Clean School Bus Program to replace existing school buses with electric models. According to the EPA, they have awarded almost $3 billion in taxpayer funds through this program. Troublingly, certain companies in the electric bus industry have ties to the CCP and other foreign entities of concern.

Localities can currently use their federal funding to purchase buses from companies with ties to these foreign entities of concern, with some of these companies marketing buses specifically for the Clean School Bus Program. In the past, Congress has made clear that no federal taxpayer dollars should go to companies with ties to our adversaries.  

While federal funds are prohibited from going to companies with ties to the CCP and other foreign entities of concern for public transit, there are no such prohibitions for the procurement of school buses. 

The Secure School Buses Act would prohibit the award of federal grant funding to school bus manufacturers with certain ties to a foreign entity of concern. 

This legislation is endorsed by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and Heritage Action.  

Click here for bill text.