United States Research Protection Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 1318, alongside Congressman Kennedy of Utah, the United States Research Protection Act. I certainly thank Mr. Kennedy for his bipartisan leadership on this exciting and important topic and, frankly, an essential topic.

In the 117th Congress, we got the CHIPS and Science Act done. It included a lot of provisions focused on improving research security. This landmark law also included a prohibition on Federal researchers' participation in foreign talent recruitment programs sponsored by adversaries of the United States seeking to undermine our Nation's competitiveness. This is a serious and very real topic.

By installing safeguards and creating informed practices for our agencies, institutions, and researchers to implement, the CHIPS and Science Act is continuing the innovation ecosystem necessary to win into the mid-21st century.

From my vantage point of serving on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, I certainly understand the risks. Many of us who are delving into these topics have really glommed on to the risks posed to our research enterprise from adversaries like China and Russia.

The committees that are enabling us to operate in a bipartisan way have also explored the methods used to circumvent the safeguards that our country has put into place, including going through third-party countries.

This is why we want to ensure our research institutions have the best interests in mind, the best talent going to them, American talent, doing very innovative things, but they need to have the necessary clarity to faithfully implement research security measures that the CHIPS and Science Act put into place to protect our national research assets.

H.R. 1318 clarifies--it is always nice to clarify in legislation--the definition of malign foreign talent recruitment program so that our beloved universities and research institutions can

readily ensure that their faculty members are not affiliated with malign foreign talent.

The National Science Foundation affirmed that our amendment, this adjustment, would improve their ability to ensure institutional compliance because people want to follow the law. They need the guardrails, and they need the clarity of the law. So even minor differences in definitions can have large consequences and can make implementation difficult. So we have the chance, and this year we are eager to make this one right and to strengthen the United States and to strengthen our research enterprise.

We have got a good example in this bill of how to address gaps in policy and improve the efficiency of our agencies. In this case our academic stakeholders are the ones who came to us, and they said that we have a problem with a definition in a law that we wrote. So in a bipartisan and in an informed process we worked with these stakeholders, and we worked through the committee, the agency, and certainly the NSF, to fix this issue.

This is how improving efficiency and accountability at our agencies should be handled, with stakeholder consultation and congressional action.

This bipartisan bill passed the 118th Congress. The Senate didn't act, but we are going to encourage them in the 119th to act when we urge all of our colleagues in the House Chamber to support this bill once again.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time to speak on this bill, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, my colleague, Mr. Kennedy for his were very affirming and wonderful remarks on the importance of this legislation.

I think from what everyone can hear today, we have bipartisan technical improvement legislation that will only strengthen our Nation and our research enterprise.

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1318, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the passage of my legislation, the United States Research Protection Act. H.R. 1318 is a critical piece of legislation that seeks to protect the future of our Nation's scientific and technological advancement. The stakes could not be higher in this era of rapid global innovation and increasingly complex geopolitical dynamics.

I thank Chairman Babin for working with me to bring this important bipartisan legislation to the floor quickly. I also thank my colleague from Michigan, Congresswoman Stevens, for co-leading this bill with me.

I am proud that my very first bill to pass the House will protect crucial research done here in the United States from adversarial foreign actors seeking to exploit our research, talent, and resources for their own gain.

Everyone in this Chamber knows the growing threat from the Chinese Communist Party. This adversary has made no secret of its intentions to surpass the United States in key technological areas, from artificial intelligence to quantum computing to biotechnology.

In 2022, Congress passed the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act as part of the CHIPS and Science Act. That bill prohibited researchers who receive Federal funds from participating in malign foreign talent recruitment programs in which foreign countries incentivize or compensate researchers for activities that present a conflict of interest for the researcher or that are otherwise unauthorized.

The Science, Space, and Technology Committee has been conducting vigorous oversight of the implementation of the CHIPS Act and has found that complicated and confusing language in the bill was impeding the ability of American researchers and their institutions to protect taxpayer-funded research.

This ambiguity could also allow for loopholes, allowing malign foreign talent recruitment programs in our universities and other research labs to recruit researchers or access sensitive data, effectively funding breakthrough research for the Chinese Communist Party with American taxpayers' dollars.

China's government has embarked on an aggressive strategy to acquire critical American research and intellectual property. We have seen a troubling pattern of intellectual property theft, economic espionage, and illicit influence over academic institutions. These efforts are not just limited to the economic realm. They are a matter of national security.

The United States Research Protection Act updates and clarifies the definition of malign foreign talent recruitment programs to protect our national investments.

If we do not act now, we risk losing the technological edge that has kept our country secure, prosperous, and at the forefront of global innovation.

We have a responsibility to protect American research, safeguard our intellectual property, and ensure that the innovations of today will remain in the hands of those who work to benefit our Nation, not those who seek to undermine it.

By passing this bipartisan bill, H.R. 1318, we are making a strong commitment to future generations of Americans. We are telling them we will not stand idly by as American innovations are put at risk. We are telling the world that the United States will continue to lead in the global technological race, and we will do so on our terms.

I thank Chairman Babin for his leadership on this issue. He is a thoughtful and dedicated patriot who is making certain that our grandchildren are better off as a result of our efforts today.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1318) to amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to clarify the definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1318, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in support of H.R. 1318, the United States Research Protection Act, sponsored by my colleagues, Representatives Kennedy and Stevens. This legislation passed the House in the 118th Congress, and I am pleased that we are taking it up again today.

America's leadership in science and technology is built on the foundation of Federal investments and basic research. These investments enhance our national security, strengthen our economy, and improve the lives of our citizens.

Our unique research ecosystem, which combines Federal, academic, and private R&D efforts, drives America's advancement in science and technology. However, for this system to work, we need a degree of open science that facilitates collaboration and transparency. The challenge is ensuring this openness does not compromise our research security.

While the U.S. has significantly profited from this system, other countries--friends and foes--also benefit from U.S. investments. The theft of our basic research poses a significant risk to our global competitiveness. It takes our cutting-edge innovations and puts them to work for our adversaries, undermining our economy and hindering our ability to stay at the forefront of discovery.

A 2023 survey by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed at the United States since 2000.

After conducting oversight of recently enacted research security requirements, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee was informed that complicated and confusing language in the CHIPS and Science Act was preventing the academic community from fully securing taxpayer-funded research.

H.R. 1318 will update and clarify the definition of a malign foreign talent recruitment program to assist universities and agencies in protecting our national investments. This bill is a simple bipartisan solution to protect our tax dollars and the research that they fund from foreign espionage.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Kennedy and Stevens for their work on this critical legislation. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1318, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the government needs clear and explicit guidance for our agencies and federally funded researchers. While this body has passed multiple bills to protect American research, unintentional ambiguity has created confusion within the academic research community. H.R. 1318 will eliminate confusion around the implementation of research security requirements and increase protections of our R&D enterprise.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this simple and noncontroversial bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.