The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday unanimously approved legislation to ban the Department of Homeland Security from using electric vehicle batteries produced by Gotion, Inc. and other companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

HR 8631, known as the “Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act,” specifically names Gotion in prohibiting DHS from procuring certain foreign-made batteries, offering the latest blow to the company erecting battery component facilities in Michigan and Illinois that are heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

In Michigan, where locals are fighting to nix Gotion’s multi-billion dollar plant near Big Rapids, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democrats who control the state legislature approved $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for the company, while Illinois taxpayers are subsidizing a similar plant by $536 million, Wirepoints reports.

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Gotion is also set to take in $7.5 billion in federal tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act, which narrowly passed Congress in 2022 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in the Senate.

Monday’s vote follows criticisms of Gotion’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and slave labor in the supply chain uncovered by the House Select Committee on the CCP, chaired by Michigan Republican Congressman John Moolenaar. Moolenaar has been equally critical of Ford’s partnership with Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, known as CATL.

“American tax dollars should never be used to further the Chinese Communist Party’s hopes to dominate key technologies at our expense,” Moolenaar said in a statement. “That’s why I am proud to co-sponsor the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act which would stop the Department of Homeland Security from using American taxpayer dollars to purchase Gotion, CATL, or other Chinese batteries. Our military has already banned these batteries and DHS should do the same.”

Moolenaar noted HR 8631, led by Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, resembles language in an approved National Defense Authorization Act that blocked the U.S. Department of Defense from procuring batteries from Chinese companies.

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“The West was far too late to recognize the threat of Huawei, TikTok, and PRC-manufactured cranes installed at America’s seaports. We know that doing business in China means enriching the CCP––and that comes at a steep cost, even if there are perceived short-term benefits,” Gimenez said. “America must be proactive in addressing the threats posed by the CCP to our technology, information, and way of life. The Department of Defense has rightfully ended the use of these PRC-manufactured batteries, and it is past time for DHS to follow suit.”

Gotion’s Big Rapids battery manufacturing plant has become a hot-button issue in the 2024 election, with former President Donald Trump coming out in “100%” opposition to the facility.

“The Gotion plant would be very bad for the State and our Country. It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. I AM 100% OPPOSED!” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social that was also shared on X. “As your President, I will make America’s Auto Industry bigger and stronger than it has ever been before, PROTECT American Workers, and TERMINATE the Green New Scam.”

The issue is also playing into the U.S. Senate race to replace Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, who is facing off against former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the race, signed a nondisclosure agreement to participate in secret negotiations with Gotion that resulted in Michigan’s massive incentive package for the company.

“We had foreign agents provide financial support to Elissa Slotkin and Curtis Hertel,” a Democrat former advisor to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who also signed a nondisclosure agreement, Rogers said at a recent press conference. Hertel is now vying against Republican former state Sen. Tom Barrett for Slotkin’s House seat.

“They signed nondisclosure agreement to … not have to disclose their conversations about their dealings to give cash and prizes to a company that is now tied to the Communist Party of China,” Rogers said.

Slotkin has more recently attempted to cast herself as more critical of Chinese companies doing business in the U.S., telling a reporter with MIRS there should have been a “proper national security vetting” before Michigan inked its incentive deal, The Detroit News reports.

On the local level, all members of the Green Charter Township board who initially approved the Gotion project were recalled from office in November, and replaced with opponents who have fought to shut down the project.

Gotion is now suing the township to force the deal, most recently demanding communications between township officials and local residents leading the opposition through the discovery process. The township’s attorney denied Gotion’s discovery requests.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to single out and demand the communications between private American citizens who oppose the Gotion battery project and our elected officials should cause every American to take pause,” Christopher Long, one of the residents targeted by Gotion, said in a statement.

“It’s bad enough that the CCP is bullying an American Township that does not want them, but now they’re bullying individual citizens in that Township,” Long said. “Will I and the other citizens named face retaliation from the CCP for exercising our first amendment rights to speak up against the project? These demands are clearly beyond the scope of the original lawsuit.  No American should EVER have their communications with their elected officials scrutinized by the  CCP, or their surrogates like Gotion.”