The Senate passed two major pieces of legislation this week targeting U.S. technology and security ties with China, limiting the flow of advanced research and federal funding to Beijing-linked companies.
The new legislation comes as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual defense policy bill that includes $879 billion in funding for the U.S. military. With their bipartisan passage in the Senate Thursday night, Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s “FIGHT China Act of 2025″ and Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty’s “Bio-Secure Act” are poised to clamp down on perceived vulnerabilities in U.S.-China security.
Senator Cornyn’s “Foreign Investment Guardrails to Help Thwart (FIGHT) China Act of 2025″ establishes new guardrails to stop U.S. money and expertise from advancing China’s high-tech military programs, including advanced chips, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, and supercomputers. The bill passed on a bipartisan basis.
“This is a transparency bill that will give us some insight into the amount of money being invested in the People’s Republic of China, and the extent to which those investment dollars are directly flowing into the arsenal of our greatest strategic adversary, the People’s Republic of China,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “The United States is the most important foreign source of investment to semiconductors, quantum computing, and AI in China because of China’s military fusion strategy. These investments are directly bolstering the People’s Liberation Army.” (RELATED: Here’s What’s In Major Defense Bill The Senate Just Passed During Shutdown)
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to members of the media at the Capitol December 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. Senate GOPs indicate that they have enough votes to pass the tax reform bill. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The bill empowers federal agencies to block or penalize transactions that funnel American capital or expertise into key Chinese sectors. It also mandates regular reporting to Congress on U.S. investment in Beijing’s tech industries.
“We should be developing the most sensitive, cutting-edge technologies right here at home, rather than funding their development in countries that do not share our values,” added Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “[The bill] would protect our national security and help ensure that American ingenuity, innovation, and investment do not end up turbocharging these countries’ advancements in fields like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and microelectronics.”
In addition to Cornyn’s efforts, Senator Hagerty’s Bio-Secure Act bars federal contracts that use gear or services from “biotech companies of concern,” targeting “CCP-controlled biotech firms,” as the senator described them on Thursday, due to their being “tools of the CCP, collecting and analyzing DNA for millions of people worldwide.” The bill passed on a bipartisan basis.
“The Bio-Secure Act stops U.S. taxpayer money from flowing to biotechnology companies of concern,” Hagerty said in the Senate chamber on Thursday. “It ensures the federal government cannot buy from, contract with, or subsidize CCP-controlled biotech firms that put at risk the DNA of American citizens and the security of the United States.” (RELATED: Another Chinese National Busted Allegedly Smuggling Bio-Materials To University Of Michigan Lab)
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) speaks on border security and Title 42 during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Under Hagerty’s amendment, the federal government is prohibited from contracting with, funding, or awarding grants to companies linked to the Chinese military that handle genetic or biological data, such as genomics and DNA sequencing.
“Communist China has openly identified biotechnology as a key domain for future warfare,” Hagerty said. “To cite just one chilling example, in 2017, the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army wrote about the possibility of, and I quote, ‘specific ethnic genetic attacks that can,’ quote, ‘be a precise, targeted attack’ — get this — ‘that destroys a race or a specific group of people or a specific person.’”
“This is bone-chilling,” Hagerty said.
The Senate approved the NDAA on Thursday, ending weeks of gridlock over the massive $879 billion package and marking a rare move in approving major legislation during a government shutdown. With the bill’s passage, the House and Senate armed services committees can now begin reconciling the differences between each chamber’s respective versions.
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