Rep. Murphy introduces bill to prohibit federal employees from taking 'cultural exchange' trips to China

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EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., on Thursday introduced new legislation that would prohibit federal employees from taking so-called cultural exchange trips to China.

In most cases, federal employees must disclose information about privately funded trips they attend, but the 1961 Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA) allows federal employees to go on 89 approved trips involving more than 50 foreign governments, including China, without filing a public disclosure the way they would with other trips.

"Communist China is the single greatest national and economic security threat to the United States," Murphy told Fox News in a statement. "For years, the Chinese Communist Party has violated international treaties, dismantled civil liberties, continued its oppression of ethnic minorities, conducted provocations and violations of other nations’ sovereignty, put the safety and security of countless countries at risk, and so much more."

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He continued: "Protecting our national security from Chinese influence requires us to vigorously defend our national interests. This includes ensuring that U.S. federal employees are not indoctrinated with communist, anti-American propaganda on overseas trips."

The bill, called the End Misleading Cultural Exchanges Act, is one part of the Republican Study Committee’s forthcoming Countering Communist China Act, which counters the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.

In December 2020, the State Department canceled five MECEA trips that allowed the Chinese Communist Party to fully fund trips to China for congressional staff. 

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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time that the programs were "fully funded and operated by the [Chinese] government as soft power propaganda tools."

The House bill introduced by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., aims to promote transparency and accountability in U.S.-China relations, specifically targetting CCP-led influence operations taking place within the United States, as Breitbart first reported.

Republicans have grown increasingly skeptical of China in the wake of COVID-19 after a number of government and science experts suggested a link between the origins of the virus and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had received a federal grant from the U.S. for gain-of-function research before the outbreak.

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That on top of human rights abuses the Chinese government has committed against the country's Muslim minorities, as well as a yearslong trade war between the two countries amid U.S. accusations of intellectual property theft, cyberattacks, fentanyl exports to the U.S. and other crimes has led Republicans to introduce a variety of bills targeting China and promoting more transparency between the two countries.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored what we already know – the Chinese Communist Party is our strategic adversary, and they have gone to great lengths to spread deception and lies around the world," Murphy said. "We must recognize the urgency and magnitude of the CCP threat to American values and interests, and pursue a strategy of engagement based on long-term, America-first solutions that protect our interests at home and abroad. I am proud to lead this important legislation to address the growing threat of the CCP and safeguard U.S. national security."

President Biden has expressed the importance of maintaining a tough stance against China, and his administration has continued to blacklist Chinese companies for being complicit in the Chinese government's efforts to spy on Muslim Uyghurs, though some critics have argued that the president is not taking a strong enough stance.