Van Hollen Discusses ZTE Amendment on CNN International

Today U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined CNN International’s Maggie Lake to discuss his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) regarding Chinese telecommunications company ZTE. The Senator has teamed up with Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and others to ensure that if the Trump Administration moves forward with their misguided attempt to let ZTE off the hook, the NDAA would stop them in their tracks. It has been folded into the main Senate text and is expected to be taken up by the Senate shortly. Video of the exchange is available here and a transcript is available below.

MAGGIE LAKE, CNN: You say you're confident that this will pass – it needs bipartisan support. And we have seen many times Republicans backing off for fear of defying the Administration, which has made no bones about singling out and going after members of their own party who stand against them. 

SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.): Well, first of all, this is already included in what we call the Managers Amendment here in the United States Senate, so it's already part of the underlying package. I’m absolutely confident it will pass the Senate. And I’m confident this will come out of the Conference Committee with the House because if it's not in there, the final Defense Authorization bill will encounter a lot of problems here in the United States Senate. And again, this is a bipartisan effort. I can tell you the Republican Senators who are part of this are absolutely committed to holding ZTE accountable, to not letting them off the hook. And they're not going to back down.

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