II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 413 

To establish the China Censorship Monitor and Action Group, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish the China Censorship Monitor and Action 

Group, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

9 the Senate; and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

2 the House of Representatives. 

3 (2) QUALIFIED RESEARCH ENTITY.—The term 

4 ‘‘qualified research entity’’ means an entity that— 

5 (A) is a nonpartisan research organization 

6 or a federally funded research and development 

7 center; 

8 (B) has appropriate expertise and analyt9 ical capability to write the report required 

10 under section 3; and 

11 (C) is free from any financial, commercial, 

12 or other entanglements, which could undermine 

13 the independence of such report or create a 

14 conflict of interest or the appearance of a con15 flict of interest, with— 

16 (i) the Government of the People’s 

17 Republic of China; 

18 (ii) the Chinese Communist Party; 

19 (iii) any company incorporated in the 

20 People’s Republic of China or a subsidiary 

21 of such company; or 

22 (iv) any company or entity incor23 porated outside of the People’s Republic of 

24 China that is believed to have a substantial 


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1 financial or commercial interest in the Peo2 ple’s Republic of China. 

3 (3) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

4 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

5 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law6 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

7 United States; or 

8 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

9 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 

10 United States, including a foreign branch of 

11 such an entity. 

12 SEC. 2. CHINA CENSORSHIP MONITOR AND ACTION GROUP. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish an 

14 interagency task force, which shall be known as the 

15 ‘‘China Censorship Monitor and Action Group’’ (referred 

16 to in this section as the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

17 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The President shall— 

18 (1) appoint the chair of the Task Force from 

19 among the staff of the National Security Council; 

20 (2) appoint the vice chair of the Task Force 

21 from among the staff of the National Economic 

22 Council; and 

23 (3) direct the head of each of the following ex24 ecutive branch agencies to appoint personnel to par25 ticipate in the Task Force: 


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1 (A) The Department of State. 

2 (B) The Department of Commerce. 

3 (C) The Department of the Treasury. 

4 (D) The Department of Justice. 

5 (E) The Office of the United States Trade 

6 Representative. 

7 (F) The Office of the Director of National 

8 Intelligence, and other appropriate elements of 

9 the intelligence community (as defined in sec10 tion 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 

11 U.S.C. 3003)). 

12 (G) The Federal Communications Commis13 sion. 

14 (H) The United States Agency for Global 

15 Media. 

16 (I) Other agencies designated by the Presi17 dent. 

18 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Task Force shall— 

19 (1) oversee the development and execution of an 

20 integrated Federal Government strategy to monitor 

21 and address the impacts of efforts directed, or di22 rectly supported, by the Government of the People’s 

23 Republic of China to censor or intimidate, in the 

24 United States or in any of its possessions or terri25 tories, any United States person, including United 


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1 States companies that conduct business in the Peo2 ple’s Republic of China, which are exercising their 

3 right to freedom of speech; and 

4 (2) submit the strategy developed pursuant to 

5 paragraph (1) to the appropriate congressional com6 mittees not later than 120 days after the date of the 

7 enactment of this Act. 

8 (d) MEETINGS.—The Task Force shall meet not less 

9 frequently than twice per year. 

10 (e) CONSULTATIONS.—The Task Force should regu11 larly consult, to the extent necessary and appropriate, 

12 with— 

13 (1) Federal agencies that are not represented 

14 on the Task Force; 

15 (2) independent agencies of the United States 

16 Government that are not represented on the Task 

17 Force; 

18 (3) relevant stakeholders in the private sector 

19 and the media; and 

20 (4) relevant stakeholders among United States 

21 allies and partners facing similar challenges related 

22 to censorship or intimidation by the Government of 

23 the People’s Republic of China. 

24 (f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Task Force shall 

2 submit an annual report to the appropriate congres3 sional committees that describes, with respect to the 

4 reporting period— 

5 (A) the strategic objectives and policies 

6 pursued by the Task Force to address the chal7 lenges of censorship and intimidation of United 

8 States persons while in the United States or 

9 any of its possessions or territories, which is di10 rected or directly supported by the Government 

11 of the People’s Republic of China; 

12 (B) the activities conducted by the Task 

13 Force in support of the strategic objectives and 

14 policies referred to in subparagraph (A); and 

15 (C) the results of the activities referred to 

16 in subparagraph (B) and the impact of such ac17 tivities on the national interests of the United 

18 States. 

19 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report submitted 

20 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be unclassified, but 

21 may include a classified annex. 

22 (3) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later 

23 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act, and annually thereafter, the Task Force shall 

25 provide briefings to the appropriate congressional 


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1 committees regarding the activities of the Task 

2 Force to execute the strategy developed pursuant to 

3 subsection (c)(1). 

4 SEC. 3. REPORT ON CENSORSHIP AND INTIMIDATION OF 

5 UNITED STATES PERSONS BY THE GOVERN6 MENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF 

7 CHINA. 

8 (a) REPORT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

10 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 of State shall select and seek to enter into an agree12 ment with a qualified research entity that is inde13 pendent of the Department of State to write a re14 port on censorship and intimidation in the United 

15 States and its possessions and territories of United 

16 States persons, including United States companies 

17 that conduct business in the People’s Republic of 

18 China, which is directed or directly supported by the 

19 Government of the People’s Republic of China. 

20 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 

21 required under paragraph (1) shall— 

22 (A) assess major trends, patterns, and 

23 methods of the Government of the People’s Re24 public of China’s efforts to direct or directly 

25 support censorship and intimidation of United 


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1 States persons, including United States compa2 nies that conduct business in the People’s Re3 public of China, which are exercising their right 

4 to freedom of speech; 

5 (B) assess, including through the use of il6 lustrative examples, as appropriate, the impact 

7 on and consequences for United States persons, 

8 including United States companies that conduct 

9 business in the People’s Republic of China, that 

10 criticize— 

11 (i) the Chinese Communist Party; 

12 (ii) the Government of the People’s 

13 Republic of China; 

14 (iii) the authoritarian model of gov15 ernment of the People’s Republic of China; 

16 or 

17 (iv) a particular policy advanced by 

18 the Chinese Communist Party or the Gov19 ernment of the People’s Republic of China; 

20 (C) identify the implications for the United 

21 States of the matters described in subpara22 graphs (A) and (B); 

23 (D) include best practices for industries in 

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1 larly acute, including the media and film indus2 tries; 

3 (E) include policy recommendations for the 

4 United States Government, including rec5 ommendations regarding collaboration with 

6 United States allies and partners, to address 

7 censorship and intimidation by the Government 

8 of the People’s Republic of China; and 

9 (F) include policy recommendations for 

10 United States persons, including United States 

11 companies that conduct business in China, to 

12 address censorship and intimidation by the Gov13 ernment of the People’s Republic of China. 

14 (3) APPLICABILITY TO UNITED STATES ALLIES

15 AND PARTNERS.—To the extent practicable, the re16 port required under paragraph (1) should identify 

17 implications and policy recommendations that are 

18 relevant to United States allies and partners facing 

19 censorship and intimidation directed or directly sup20 ported by the Government of the People’s Republic 

21 of China. 

22 (b) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

25 of State shall submit the report written by the qualiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Mar 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S413.IS S413

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1 fied research entity selected pursuant to subsection 

2 (a)(1) to the appropriate congressional committees. 

3 (2) PUBLICATION.—The report referred to in 

4 paragraph (1) shall be made accessible to the public 

5 online through relevant United States Government 

6 websites. 

7 (c) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORT.—The Sec8 retary of State and other Federal agencies selected by the 

9 President shall provide the qualified research entity se10 lected pursuant to subsection (a)(1) with timely access to 

11 appropriate information, data, resources, and analyses 

12 necessary for such entity to write the report described in 

13 subsection (a) in a thorough and independent manner. 

14 SEC. 4. SUNSET. 

15 This Act shall terminate on the date that is 5 years 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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