Capital District Times

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) have reintroduced the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act. This legislation mandates the reporting and public disclosure of government funds provided to entities in foreign countries of concern, including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

The bill aims to provide detailed information on the amount, location, and purpose of such funding. This data would be reported to the federal government and made available online for public access. The reintroduction follows a Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General report revealing that the DoD is not tracking defense dollars potentially going to China.

“I am proud to join Senator Joni Ernst in reintroducing the TRACKS Act ensuring that no American taxpayer dollars are used to fund our foreign adversaries. It is inexcusable that the Department of Defense publicly admitted that they are not tracking taxpayer dollars going to Communist China,” said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. “We cannot allow a single penny from hardworking Americans to go to foreign adversaries actively working against America and our interests. This desperately needed legislation ensures that bureaucrats are held accountable for their reckless and irresponsible spending that is lining the pockets of countries like Communist China.”

Senator Joni Ernst echoed these sentiments: “This alarming Inspector General investigation demonstrates Washington hasn’t learned any lessons from COVID-19. Without my calls to audit DoD spending, these dollars wasted on our adversaries would have never been unmasked. Taxpayers deserve an explanation as to why the Pentagon was funding a controversial biotech company in China to create drug-resistant, mutant coronaviruses in the midst of the pandemic most likely sparked by the risky research funded by the U.S. government in another lab in China. It’s clear a much deeper investigation is warranted into all of this, and I am calling for one.”

Ernst further criticized current administration policies: “It’s also shocking the Biden administration is hiring an army of IRS agents to audit U.S. taxpayers but can’t keep track of where tax dollars are being spent overseas. My TRACKS Act, which is being introduced in the House today by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, will require every penny sent to China or any other country of concern be accounted for and the receipts be publicly posted. Then we can work to ensure American taxpayers never again aid the dangerous experiments of mad scientists in China.”

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