Exclusive: GOP lawmaker warns Trump administration of looming China tech influence



Republican Rep. August Pfluger of Texas urged President Donald Trump's administration to address the "grave concerns" regarding China's global influence in tech, Blaze News has learned.

China is set to host the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference, posing a threat to America's national security and giving our adversary the opportunity to shape the global telecommunications landscape. In a letter obtained exclusively by Blaze News, Pfluger is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to address China's looming influence or else "we risk being overtaken by our adversaries."

'We must use every tool at our disposal to counter China’s influence.'

"President Trump’s consistent leadership and support of an America First agenda to counter China is important now, more than ever," the letter reads.

"Our leadership in technology and innovation is at risk, and our allies may increasingly turn to China for telecommunications solutions, eroding our influence and compromising shared security interests."

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Pfluger pointed to the many advantages China will have for hosting the conference and how it could threaten American tech dominance as well as national security.

"Hosting the WRC provides several significant advantages, including setting the agenda, guiding discussions, and influencing themes, thereby enabling the host country to exert substantial 'soft' influence over global telecommunications standards and policies," the letter reads.

Some of these policies and regulations that will be determined during the conference include allocating new spectrum bands for mobile broadband as well as regulating satellite communications, according to the letter.

"China’s role as host thus raises concerns about potential impacts on U.S. leadership in innovation and open, secure communications," the letter reads. "This, combined with the threat of espionage against government officials and participants, raises significant data security and national security concerns."

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"We must use every tool at our disposal to counter China’s influence and ensure the United States remains at the forefront of global telecommunications leadership," the letter reads. "As Members of Congress, we stand ready to provide the necessary support to assist the Administration in accomplishing these goals."

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Exclusive: Speaker Johnson says reconciliation will remain a 'partisan exercise,' won't rely on Democrats



Despite the GOP's historically narrow majority in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Blaze News in an exclusive interview Monday that he is planning to rely solely on Republicans to get reconciliation out the door.

The House is expected to vote on reconciliation tomorrow night, which would establish a budget blueprint for President Donald Trump's America First agenda. Although Johnson's "big, beautiful bill" earned an endorsement from Trump, Republicans can afford to lose only one vote on reconciliation. Even so, Johnson told Blaze News that all his efforts are focused on uniting Republicans behind the budget resolution.

'I'm convinced that, at the end, it's going to work.'

"Reconciliation, unlike everything else that is done in Congress, is always, by definition, a partisan exercise," Johnson told Blaze News. "It's going to reflect all of our red-meat policies, everything we ran on, campaigned on, and everything President Trump ran on. It's the America First agenda."

"We're not going to have any Democrats, which means we are going to have to have every single Republican," Johnson added.

Although Republicans were re-elected with a narrower majority compared to the previous Congress, Trump recruited two members of Congress, shrinking the GOP's margins even further.

Because of the increasingly slim margin, Johnson and the Republican leadership have dedicated nearly a year of negotiations to ensuring that their whole conference can get behind reconciliation.

'It's a lot of work, a lot of heavy work, high stakes, but a great reward when we get it done.'

"We've been working on this, really, since March of last year, when we first got the committee chairs to start talking about what they might be able to do in reconciliation in their areas of jurisdiction," Johnson told Blaze News. "We've had, I mean, almost a year's worth of work. ... All these things are necessary to get everybody to a consensus when you have such a small margin."

Even so, there are some hesitancies within the GOP. On one hand, several moderate Republicans in purple and blue districts say the budget cuts go too far, while fiscal hawks within the GOP say the cuts don't go far enough. But despite the ideologically diverse conference, Johnson is confident that Republicans will eventually get on the same page.

"I'm convinced that, at the end, it's going to work," Johnson told Blaze News. "None of us are going to get everything we want, but we will be able to pass what I think could be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in many, many years, maybe decades.

"It's a lot of work, a lot of heavy work, high stakes, but a great reward when we get it done," Johnson added.

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Trump gives House budget his blessing despite Senate's lead in race for reconciliation



President Donald Trump yet again endorsed the House's reconciliation bill on Wednesday after the Senate advanced its own budgetary resolution on Tuesday night.

The Senate pressed on with its two-bill budget blueprint, teeing up a potential vote for later this week. The House, on the other hand, is positioned to vote on its reconciliation bill next week when members are back in session.

'We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to "kickstart" the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, "ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL." It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'

It's also worth noting that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced the Senate's proposal nearly a week before Speaker Mike Johnson finalized the House's budget.

Despite the recurring delays on the House side, Trump reiterated his support for "one big beautiful bill."

"The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it!" Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday.

"We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to 'kickstart' the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.' It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

As Trump noted, the House bill tackles all the major policy priorities the administration is aiming to implement, including border provisions, defense spending, tax cuts, and spending cuts. Although the Senate's approach addresses the same issues, its two-bill approach splits the border and defense spending from the tax bill.

One key difference between the two proposals is that the House bill doesn't allow for a permanent extension of the Trump tax cuts from 2017, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune considers a dealbreaker.

Even still, it's clear that Trump has given Johnson's big, beautiful bill his blessing.

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