Preventing a Government Shutdown and Securing Funding for Our Communities and Other Updates

Dear Neighbors,

Happy holidays! As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact my office by calling (847) 413-1959, emailing me at [email protected], or sending a message through my website at https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/contact/email. For more frequent updates, I encourage you to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Upcoming Washington D.C. Office Open House

With the 118^th session of Congress beginning on January 3^rd, I want to invite you to join me for my Washington, D.C. Office Open House on January 4^th, from 9:30-11:00 AM ET. The event will be held in my new office in Room 2367 of the Rayburn House Office Building. To RSVP, please email [email protected] or click here.

Preventing A Government Shutdown And Securing Funding For Community Projects

Earlier today, I joined my colleagues in voting to pass the bipartisan funding package to prevent a government shutdown, fund federal programs, and provide local community aid. In addition to ensuring the continuing operations of our government, I’m glad to see this bill also includes bipartisan provisions I led that will expand programs to combat distracted driving, strengthen sanctions enforcement against Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, and reduce the levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food through the FDA’s Closer To Zero program, which was created following my investigation into neurotoxins in baby food.

Beyond the bill’s federal policy implications, I was proud to secure more than $13.6 million in Community Project Funding for communities in our district to address some of the most pressing needs of local families and organizations. Those projects are:

$3,000,000 for the Association for Individual Development to build a Community Mental Health Center and social services facility in Elgin, IL.
$2,391,407 for the Gail Borden Public Library District’s South Elgin Branch expansion, which will create a dedicated space for children and families, as well as additional meeting and programming areas in South Elgin, IL.
$2,000,000 for Boys & Girls Clubs of Dundee Township for the Woodlands Community Impact Center, a new community center that will provide under-resourced, minority youth with proven afterschool and summer programs in Carpentersville, IL.
$1,000,000 for Cook County Health to provide urgent care access to the surrounding area in Arlington Heights, IL.
$936,000 to Elgin Community College to launch its Mechatronics/Automation Certificate Program in Elgin, IL.
$750,000 for the Village of Roselle for designing drainage improvements for the Seasons 4 and Devlin Watersheds.
$600,000 for the Village of Addison for repairing roads, addressing drainage issues, replacing sidewalks, and adding curb ramps for accessibility.
$600,000 for the Village of Hanover Park for replacing the ultraviolet disinfection system at the Village’s wastewater treatment plant.
$500,000 for the Elk Grove Village Police Department for its Elk Grove Village Cares Program to fund addiction treatment.
$500,000 for Harper College for its Aviation Maintenance Program to provide training opportunities in Palatine, IL for students pursuing careers in the aviation industry.
$330,400 for the Village of Streamwood for the Madison Drive Bike & Pedestrian Trail.
$324,475 for the Wood Dale Park District for its Central Park Redevelopment Project to install swings, child play features, and adult fitness stations.
$266,059 for Leyden Family Service & Mental Health Center to support repairs and upgrades to inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment facilities in Hoffman Estates, IL.
$250,000 for the Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) to launch new career pathways and counseling support for 9^th and 10^th grade students in District 214, which includes Arlington Heights, Elk Grove, and Palatine.
$166,000 for the Village of Schaumburg for its electric vehicle pilot program.

Eliminating The Threat Posed By The Chinese Communist Party’s Control Over TikTok

Last week, I joined my colleagues in the House and Senate in introducing the bipartisan Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act), which would bar TikTok and other social media platforms owned by media companies based in hostile countries, including Russia, North Korea, Iran, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), from operating in the United States as long as they are owned or controlled by foreign adversaries. While all social media companies collect data on their users, what distinguishes TikTok as a national security threat in particular is the control that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has over ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, and the data it stores from TikTok, which has more than 140 million American users. The app can physically track users and online activities while curating information for individuals. Fundamentally, this presents a profoundly effective tool for one of our leading international adversaries to spy on Americans while also feeding them propaganda curated by the CCP itself.

The key to understanding the risks posed by TikTok lies in understanding the CCP’s control over the app through two PRC laws that ensure that the CCP is able to control the policies of companies based in the country, and that all such companies are required to fully cooperate with the CCP’s intelligence agencies. The PRC’s 1993 Company Law requires companies based in the country to maintain internal Party cells to ensure the CCP’s interests are represented in corporate activities, while the PRC’s National Intelligence Law of 2017 requires all citizens and businesses to assist in CCP intelligence work, including sharing data, while banning them from disclosing when they have done so. Together, ByteDance is required by PRC law to cooperate with the CCP’s intelligence operations. The company itself is also directed by an internal CCP cell, chaired by the company’s editor-in-chief, who has previously stated that ByteDance must ensure that TikTok and other ByteDance products have “correct political direction.”

The CCP’s control over a social media app capable of tracking the real-world movements and online activities of Americans, while serving them propaganda selected by the regime in Beijing, poses a serious national security risk. This is compounded by leaks from ByteDance that confirm that not only does TikTok have the capacity to track Americans, it’s already planning to do so. In October, Forbes came out with a report, based on internal documents from ByteDance’s Internal Audit and Risk Control department, that the company had planned to use the app to monitor the personal locations of individual Americans for surveillance purposes unrelated to advertising. Just yesterday, we learned that the company was deliberately using the app to track the locations of journalists investigating it.

While my legislation to eliminate the security threat posed by TikTok or similar apps is the first of its kind, I’m glad to see growing momentum for federal action. While the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon have already prohibited the use of the app on government-issued devices, I’m glad that we were able to ensure that the bipartisan government funding package included a provision to ban the app from government devices because of the security threats it poses to our nation. As much as Americans may enjoy the content on TikTok, our first priority must be protecting our citizens and our country from the threats posed by hostile foreign powers, and that’s precisely what my bipartisan legislation will do.

Stay Updated Through My Social Media Accounts

The best way to stay up to date on these issues beyond our newsletter is through my social media accounts, which I update multiple times each day. You can follow my Twitter here, my Facebook page here, and my Instagram here. Thank you for staying engaged in our community.

Warm Regards,

P.S. I always enjoy hearing from constituents, so feel free to comment and share my social media posts! Here are the links: Twitter here, Facebook page here, and Instagram here.