Beijing Winter Olympics Sponsor Accountability Act would ban federal government from contracting with any company sponsoring China’s 2022 Games
As the Summer Olympics in Japan wrap up, many turn a critical eye towards the host of the next Games: China.
Context
February 2022’s Winter Olympics were awarded to Beijing back in 2015. In more recent years, particularly since 2020, that decision has come under increasing scrutiny.
Major criticisms of China in recent years have centered on the country’s refusal to let health inspectors and investigators into Wuhan where the COVID-19 pandemic began, crackdown on democratic freedoms, and treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority including internment camps, which the Biden administration officially declared a genocide in May.
In March, GovTrack Insider covered a nonbinding congressional resolution urging the U.S. to officially boycott those upcoming Games. The reason it would be nonbinding is because that decision isn’t Congress’s to make. The last time the U.S. boycotted the Olympics, in 1984 when the Soviet Union hosted, that decision was made by President Jimmy Carter.
Yet Congress does retain one tool in their arsenal: the power of the purse.
What the bill does
The Beijing Winter Olympics Sponsor Accountability Act would impose a four-year ban on the federal government contracting with any company that sponsors the 2022 Games.
It would also ban such a company’s products from being sold at federal buildings or military bases. (Which could be bad news for the Dunkin’ Donuts at the Library of Congress or the Subway restaurant at the FBI’s training academy, which the Wall Street Journal last year called “the weirdest Subway restaurant in America.”)
If the International Olympic Committee relocates the Games, as some have suggested, then the bill would become moot. In short, the bill aims to pressure the companies to pressure the IOC.
It was introduced in the House on May 28 as H.R. 3645, by Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL6).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that China doesn’t deserve America’s financial support, whether governmental or corporate.
“By financially supporting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, both American and other global corporations are complicit in whitewashing the ongoing genocide against Chinese ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang region, repression against their own people, the attempted coverup of the COVID-19 pandemic, media censorship, the repression of democratic rights in Hong Kong and Tibet, and threats against the free democracy in Taiwan,” Rep. Waltz said in a press release.
“It is egregiously appalling for these companies to be promoting their ‘wokeness’ while at the same time ignoring genocide and human rights atrocities being committed by the Chinese Communist Party, simply to appease the oppressive regime and maintain market access,” Rep. Waltz continued. “We intend to help them find their spines.”
What opponents say
When representatives of five companies — Airbnb, Coca-Cola Company, Intel, Proctor & Gamble, and Visa — were pressed on the issue at a congressional hearing in July, most said that their Olympics sponsorship was in support of U.S. athletes, and that of course they oppose the worst of China’s misconduct.
“Almost a century ago, The Coca-Cola Company sponsored the 1928 Olympic Games and partnered with the U.S. Olympic Committee for the first time. In every Olympic Games since then, we have proudly supported the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Team USA,” the company’s Global Vice President for Human Rights Paul Lalli said in testimony. “We have committed to continue doing so until at least 2032,” regardless of which countries host.
“It is important to make clear that sponsors like Visa have no say in the countries selected by the IOC to host the Games. It has been that way for the entirety of our 35-year partnership and remains that way today,” the company’s Senior Vice President for Global Sponsorship Strategy Andrea Fairchild concurred in testimony. “Indeed, the foundation of our sponsorship has always been supporting the incredible Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls in their journeys to achieve their dreams.”
Odds of passage
The bill has attracted five bipartisan cosponsors: three Republicans and two Democrats. It awaits a potential vote in either the House Armed Services or Oversight and Reform Committee.
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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