On September 9th, the House of Representatives passed HR 1157, greenlighting $1.6 billion to counter the so-called "Chinese influence".

This bill was introduced during "China Week" held by the House in early September.

In fact, it's largely a political theater ahead of the upcoming elections - only 1.5% of thousands of China-related bills put forward in the 118th Congress have actually become law.

The $1.6 billion is set to fund overseas media outlets and civil society groups, to support negative coverage of BRI.