Kankakee Times

Amanda Piker, a resident of Manteno, has expressed gratitude towards the efforts of Congressmen Darin LaHood (R-IL) and John Moolenaar (R-MI). 

They have initiated the No Official Giveaways Of Taxpayers’ Income to Oppressive Nations (NO GOTION) Act which aims to curb the sale of land to companies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. 

"The effort to stop the selling of our land to a CCP affiliated by Congressmen LaHood is deeply appreciated. The Inflation Reduction Act has paved way for this atrocity to occur. Now, we need to see action at the state level," Amanda Piker told Kankakee Times.

The proposed legislation aims to bar companies associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from benefiting from green energy production tax credits provided by the Biden Administration through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Additionally, the bill would extend this prohibition to companies linked to Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

“As a member of the House Select Committee on the CCP and the House Intelligence Committee, I have seen the malign efforts that the CCP and other foreign adversaries like Iran and Russia are engaged in to undermine our domestic supply chains and national security,” LaHood said in a press release.

“Hard-working taxpayers should not be on the hook for billions in federal subsidies funneling to companies beholden to malign actors, like the CCP. It is clear that the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is being leveraged by foreign adversaries to exploit loopholes to gain generous incentives and dominate key technologies in the United States. Congress and the federal government should be promoting pro-growth tax policy that supports American businesses and this commonsense bill is a positive step to get us back on track.”

In response to this proposed act, Gotion considered it as an attempt to spread misinformation about their company and its practices. 

“In keeping with our record of being an international company present across 10 countries including seven and a half years in North America, we never have promoted any political philosophy in USA”, stated Gotion.

The controversy around Gotion involves plans for gaining $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies for constructing a $2 billion battery factory in Manteno. This decision has raised concerns among residents as well as lawmakers due to its affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party according Wirepoints report. Similar concerns are also prevalent among residents from Michigan and North Dakota where other battery plants are planned under Gotion's scheme.

Amid these controversies, there have been calls for a review of Gotion, Inc. by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States due to its ties with the Chinese Communist Party and its potential influence over green-energy tax incentives, particularly in Illinois.

“The extent of the CCP’s control over Guoxuan (Gotion) is explicitly mentioned in the company’s corporate by-laws, which require the company ‘to carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the [Chinese Communist Party],’” the letter from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative John Moolenaar reads.

“In 2021, Guoxuan High-Tech hosted several company retreats where employees were mandated to recite a pledge of loyalty to the Party, including to ‘fight for communism.’ This is concerning, no less because the Biden Administration itself has described the PRC in its 2022 National Security Strategy as the “only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,” and that ‘Beijing frequently uses its economic power to coerce countries.’ The CCP’s control over Guoxuan High-Tech is no exception to the Party’s strategy to exert its influence in the United States.”