{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases/transcript-representative-andre-carsons-opening-statement-hearing-chinas", "Transcript of Representative Andr\u00e9 Carson\u2019s Opening Statement from Hearing on China\u2019s Campaign to Steal America\u2019s AI Edge", "2026-04-16", "2026", "2026-04", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Andr\u00e9 Carson", "C001072", "carson.house.gov", "carson", "https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing titled China\u2019s Campaign to Steal America\u2019s AI Edge.\n\nThe following witnesses provided testimony:\n\nDr. Kyle Chan, Fellow, Brookings Institution\n\nMr. Dmitri Alperovitch, Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator\n\nMr. Yusuf Mahmood, Director of AI and Emerging Technology, America First Policy Institute\n\nBelow is a transcript of the opening statement from Representative Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07), who led the start of today\u2019s hearing alongside Chairman John Moolenaar (MI-02). Footage of Representative Carson\u2019s opening statement can be found here.\n\nThank you Mr. Chairman. You\u2019re appreciated very dearly, thank you. And thank you to the witnesses for appearing before the Committee today.\n\nLast year, the Select Committee held a very important hearing on \u201cWhy American AI Must Lead.\u201d It was very clear from that hearing that the stakes of the AI competition with China could not be higher.\n\nIf Chinese AI models win, we face a future filled with censorship and surveillance. Not to mention, in the key industries of the future \u2013 including sectors like manufacturing and biotechnology that drive Indiana\u2019s economy \u2013 we will fall behind.\n\nBut if American AI models keeps its lead, the American people will get to decide on the rules of the road. We can enact protections for workers against displacement, ensure communities do not face hikes to their utility bills, and ensure civil rights and human rights are designed into the algorithms.\n\nChina understands these stakes very well. That\u2019s why the CCP will stop at no lengths to win this competition.\n\nJust last week, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all came together to form the Frontier Model Forum \u2013 a joint effort to stop China\u2019s campaign to reverse engineer their AI models.\n\nAnd just last month, the Department of Justice indicted individuals for trying to smuggle restricted chips to China.\n\nWe should all be deeply concerned by how far Chinese companies are wiling to go to gain an edge, even if it means breaking the law.\n\nBut we should also remember why China wants to get our technologies in the first place. It\u2019s because American technologies \u2013 built by talented engineers from around the world, often with the support of federal funding \u2013 are simply better.\n\nUnfortunately, the Trump Administration\u2019s immigration policies, budgetary cuts, and attacks on leading AI labs are putting us on a path where we can\u2019t take advantage of anything, nor can we take anything for granted.\n\nNearly two-thirds of the top AI companies in America were founded or co-founded by immigrants. That\u2019s what\u2019s great about our country. 38 percent of the top AI researchers in America are originally from China.\n\nAnyone who hears those statistics and uses common sense knows we need those immigrants. We should welcome them and reject wholeheartedly any form of xenophobia.\n\nBut instead, unfortunately, this Administration is banning immigration from dozens of countries, putting a $100,000 fee on the H1-B visas that AI researchers frequently use, and scaring away students with ICE raids.\n\nThe scorecard on federal research funding \u2013 the foundation on which so much American innovation depends \u2013 is a similar story. We\u2019re slashing federal grants to universities \u2013 including colleges like IU Indy and Purdue \u2013 as China increases overall scientific research spending by nearly 10% annually.\n\nMeanwhile, the Defense Department is trying to put one of our leading AI labs out of business because of a contract dispute. Killing Claude doesn\u2019t help us beat China. That sounds to me like benching one of our top scorers in a championship game.\n\nIf we keep down this path, I fear that ten years from now we may not have as many technologies that China wants to take.\n\nThat means we need a two-pronged approach. Firstly, I agree wholeheartedly we need to enforce our laws and protect our advantages.\n\nChinese companies like DeepSeek cannot and should not get away with stealing our most innovative tech. The Commerce Department should go after those who break laws and break the rules with everything they\u2019ve got.\n\nAnd it shouldn\u2019t just be us holding China accountable. We need a global coalition. We should work with our friends in the Netherlands and Japan to protect sensitive IP in areas like lithography. Now, we\u2019re all in this competition together.\n\nBut secondly, we also need to make sure our technology remains the best. We need to attract top talent, train the next generation of workers, and keep America\u2019s innovation engines running. The easiest way for China to win is if we shoot ourselves in the foot.\n\nThe future of AI must be built on American values \u2013 and not the CCP\u2019s dystopian vision of censorship and surveillance. I believe we can keep our edge and win the future if we get to work. Thank you.", 1, "2026-06-27T21:44:12Z", "2026-06-27T22:19:40Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases/transcript-representative-andre-carsons-opening-statement-hearing-chinas"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7463418878614902, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}