America First Foreign Policy Plan

As the mother of a Marine officer and member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I understand the importance of American leadership on the global stage. I strongly support President Trump’s foreign policy of peace through strength which makes America stronger. 

A strong military paired with robust diplomacy are the most effective tools we have at our disposal to protect our homeland for future generations. We must use them wisely to advance core American interests.  However, we also must ensure any international efforts in which we engage in are in the United States’ best long- and short-term interests. Currently, the greatest threat to international stability is China and its burgeoning relationships with Russia and Iran, which together comprise a modern Axis of Evil.

For decades, China’s rise went virtually unchallenged, harming both American workers and our national security. I'm committed to making sure we build on the foreign policy gains of the Trump administration and continue to hold China accountable. We need to expose China's continued human rights abuses, stop its incessant spying and intellectual property theft, and counter its malign influence. Finally, I am committed to ensuring that taxpayer-funded projects and programs do not allow a cent of taxpayer funds to flow to the CCP. 

It is time our federal leaders to begin thoughtfully implementing an America First National Security Plan – this is a national security imperative and fundamentally in the United States’ best interest. Therefore, I am backing the following comprehensive plan that combats China’s malign global influence, maintains peace and stability in the Western Balkans, and protects American taxpayer dollars from corrupt international organizations.  

 
Combating China’s Malign Global Influence

• Cosponsored H.R. 1576, the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024: This bill would empower the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to thoroughly scrutinize all sales of American agribusinesses and farmland to Chinese Community Party-affiliated individuals and entities.  This commonsense bill will help protect American farmland from being mass purchased by the CCP and will help protect American farmers.
• Cosponsored H.R. 1575, the No American Land for Communist China Act: This bill would prohibit any Chinese government agent or CCP-affiliated person from purchasing land adjacent to any federally owned land. This will prohibit the practice of CCP agents buying land near U.S. military bases and critical infrastructure. This commonsense restriction will help keep America safe and protect our national security.
• Cosponsored H.R. 2000, the Arctic Watchers: This bill would create a new Arctic Watchers program within the State Department to monitor China and Russia’s actions in the arctic region that impact U.S. national security. China has increasingly worked to undermine U.S. interests in the Arctic, and the Arctic Watchers program will ensure a dedicated team of individuals is focused on monitoring China’s actions in the region.
• Cosponsored H.R. 1121, the No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act: This bill would prohibit the use of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI, on any government devices. DeepSeek is directly tied to the CCP and shares its data directly with CCP-controlled entities like China Mobile, which is banned in the United States. We must ban DeepSeek from being used on government devices, as it jeopardizes our national security. 

Protecting American Taxpayer Dollars from Corrupt International Organizations

• Supported H.R. 4, the Recissions Act to eliminate all funding for UNRWA: This legislation rescinded all funding for U.S. contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a successor entity, or to the U.N. regular budget for the support of UNRWA. UNRWA has a history of employing individuals affiliated with Hamas, an Iranian-backed, U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Additionally, UNRWA schools have been used to store Hamas weapons and promote anti-Semitic education in their textbooks. The Trump administration stopped funding UNRWA in 2018. However, the Biden administration restarted funding and provided more than $682 million to UNRWA without securing any reforms. Fortunately, under President Trump, the United States will never give another penny to UNRWA.
• Cosponsored and Voted for H.R. 23, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act: This bill would prohibit all funding for the International Criminal Court and sanction individuals that target countries not party to the ICC, such as the United States. Instead of going after terrorists like the leaders of Hamas, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for defending Israel against Hamas’ terrorism. Allowing the ICC to target Israeli leaders, who are also not party to the ICC, would create a precedent that could lead to American leaders being arrested and tried by the ICC, violating our national sovereignty. This important bill would impose sanctions on any ICC officials involved in the investigation, arrest, detention, or prosecution of any American or ally that is not subject to the ICC’s jurisdiction and prohibits any federal funding for the ICC. I was an original cosponsor of this important bill to uphold our national sovereignty and ensure that international institutions, such as the ICC, cannot unilaterally and illegally expand its jurisdiction by targeting countries that are not party to the ICC
• Cosponsored H.R. 4207, the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act: This bill would explicitly require any new pandemic preparedness treaty to be submitted to the Senate for ratification. This would prevent the Biden administration from skirting around the Senate by arbitrarily declaring this new treaty to be an “executive agreement”, which does not require Senate ratification. I strongly supported this bill’s passage through the House of Representatives last Congress and continue to support this critical legislation.
• Cosponsored H.R. 54, the WHO Withdrawal Act and H.R. 401, the No Taxpayer Funding for the World Health Organization Act: Make no mistake about it: the WHO abjectly failed in its response to COVID-19. This is exactly why the Trump administration announced its intention to leave the body during President Trump’s first term. Even before its failure in the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO had continuously failed to uphold its public health mandate and has proven to be a mouthpiece for the Communist Chinese Party (CCP). That is why I am a cosponsor of these two bills to withdraw the U.S. from this corrupt organization, while also preventing taxpayer money from being spent to participate in the WHO. 

Maintaining Peace and Stability in the Western Balkans

• Co-Chair of the Serbia and Macedonia Caucuses, Vice Chair of the Croatia Caucus, and Member of the Bosnia and Montenegro Caucuses: Throughout history, the Western Balkans has been the crossroads of civilization, and when instability persists in the Western Balkans, instability spreads globally. The United States must continue to focus and invest in the Western Balkans to ensure our adversaries, like Russia and China, cannot grow their influence and foothold in the region. Through my work on the various caucuses for countries in the Western Balkans, I will continue to promote our ties with these countries and ensure peace and stability in the region.
• Called out Kosovo’s human rights abuses against Kosovo Serbs: Under the disastrous Kurti regime, Serbs living in Kosovo have suffered from countless human rights abuses. Private property has been seized, freedom of speech has been suppressed, rule of law and democratic norms have been abandoned, and the 2013 Brussels Agreement has still yet to be fully implemented. I have called upon President Osmani to remedy these egregious actions, including freeing Igor Popovic, a Serbian government official who was arrested for exercising his freedom of speech. I will always work towards peace and stability in this region and call out any actions that undermine these goals.

Your views are very important to me. I hope you will take the time to review this plan and let me know what you think. If you would like to contact me, you can write to me on my website at tenney.house.gov or call my office at 202-225-3665 with feedback, questions, or concerns.