On July 8, 2024, House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) announced that he would bring the BioSecure Act (H.R. 8333) to the floor for a vote in the Fall. The bill, introduced earlier this year, seeks to halt federal contracts with certain Chinese biotech companies. The legislation was first introduced in the House by then Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the then Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. Rep. Gallagher recently left congress. That bill is H.R. 7085.
In May, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) introduced a version of the bill that was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition, to the Committee on Intelligence. On May 15, the House Oversight Committee considered the bill and reported it out of committee on a vote of 40-1. The bill reported out was an amendment that was in the nature of a substitute.
The House legislation would prohibit federal agencies from awarding contracts, grants, or loans to biotechnology companies owned by foreign adversaries. The ban would immediately apply to five companies: BGI Group, MGI, Complete Genomics, WuXi AppTec, and WuXi Biologics. The bill also would require the Administration to review and modify the list of prohibited companies on an annual basis. H.R. 8333 would permit federal agencies to waive the ban for a maximum of 545 days on a case-by-case basis.
While the House legislation has wide bipartisan support, an attempt to include it as an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) fell short in June when the House considered the NDAA.
Similar legislation (S.3558), introduced by the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Sen. Peters, D-MI) and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) before the House legislation and was marked up in committee and reported out with an amendment in the nature of a substitute in March. Sen. Rand Paul (R-LA) was the lone hold out on the committee. Cosponsors of the bill are Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), James Lankford (R-OK), Rick Scott (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mark Warner (D-VA).
The senate legislation would prohibit federal agencies from awarding contracts, grants, or loans to biotechnology companies owned by foreign adversaries. The ban would immediately apply to four companies: BGI Group, MGI, Complete Genomics, and WuXi AppTec. The bill also would require the Administration to review and modify the list of prohibited companies on an annual basis. S. 3558 would permit federal agencies to waive the ban for a maximum of 545 days on a case-by-case basis.
Both bills have been scored by the Congressional Budget Office as not increasing federal spending.
