House passes bill to bar use of funds for Huawei

The House on Monday passed legislation that would bar the government from buying telecommunications equipment from companies deemed to be national security threats, such as Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

The bipartisan Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, which passed the House unanimously, could get a vote in the Senate as soon as this week.

“Securing our networks from malicious foreign interference is critical to America’s wireless future,” the bipartisan lawmakers behind the bill, including the top Democrat and Republican on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement. “Companies like Huawei and its affiliates pose a significant threat to America’s commercial and security interests because a lot of communications providers rely heavily on their equipment.”

The legislation prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from doling out funds to purchase telecom equipment from “any company that poses a national security risk,” while requiring the government to help small communications providers rip questionable equipment out of the ground.

The bill requires the FCC to establish a $1 billion program to help small and rural communications providers remove “suspect network equipment” and replace it with products that are deemed more “secure.”

It’s only the latest attempt to address threats posed by Huawei, a massive company with a U.S. presence that critics say could enable the Chinese government to infiltrate U.S. communications.