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Congress passes stopgap bill and hits the campaign trail

On September 25, the Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR), extending current funding levels through December 20. This move delays a full-year budget deal until after the November elections, avoiding a potential government shutdown ahead of the September 30 deadline. The Senate passed the bill 78-18, and it was swiftly signed into law by President Biden.

The bill’s passage in both chambers allowed lawmakers to return home to campaign, with the expectation that they’ll finalize an FY25 omnibus during the five-week window following the elections. Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) emphasized that it’s time for bipartisan negotiations to begin in earnest. Ranking member Susan Collins (R-ME) echoed concerns that a shutdown would severely impact the Pentagon and federal programs. Earlier in the day, the House passed the bill by a 341-82 vote. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) secured widespread support from his conference.

Although the bill is largely a clean extension, it addresses a few urgent needs, including $231 million for Secret Service protection and $20 billion in FEMA disaster relief. Unresolved issues like additional disaster aid, veterans’ health care funding, and Social Security service improvements will need to be addressed in December’s negotiations.

Congress is slated to return the week of November 12 to wrap up FY25 funding, negotiate major reauthorizations like the Farm Bill, and vote on the National Defense Authorization Act.

The House passed bills based on weekly themes in September

When lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill following August recess, House Republican leadership announced weekly themes for various legislation topics throughout September. The week of September 9 was deemed “China Week” for legislation between the United States and China. There were more than 20 bills on the table including:

  • HR 1516: DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act
    • This act will require institutions to report to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about any relationship with Chinese entities of concern, including, universities or colleges, or DHS will not continue to provide certain funding.
  • HR 8333: BIOSECURE Act
    • This bipartisan bill prohibits spending on biotechnology companies that are owned, operated, or controlled by China or other foreign adversaries.
  • HR 7686:  A bill to amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to clarify definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction, and for other purposes.
    • Led by Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) and the House Science Committee, this bill updates the current definition of malign foreign talent recruitment in the CHIPS and Science Act. The goal of this bill is to assist federal research agencies and universities with clearly identifying and addressing outside threats to scientific research and protect national security.

These bills and others were passed through the House, some with additional amendments and deliberation, and will move onto the Senate.

The House legislative theme for the week of September 16 was “Woke Education Week.” The primary bill of focus is HR 3724: The End Woke in Higher Education Act, which is a combination of two bills. The first, HR 3724: Accreditation for College Excellence Act, prohibits the Department of Education from having “political litmus tests” in the accreditation process for higher education institutions, which means that accreditors cannot assess an institution’s commitment to any specific ideology, belief, or viewpoint to be accredited for higher education funding. The second bill, HR 7683: Respecting the First Amendment on Campus Act, requires higher education institutions to adhere to the first amendment allowing free speech to receive Title IV funding under the Higher Education Act. This bill was passed in the House with a vote of 213-201 and will now move to the Senate.

House committee reports on U.S. research universities and China

On September 21, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the House Education and Workforce Committee (Majority) published their report titled, “How American Taxpayers and Universities Fund the CCP’s Advanced Military and Technological Research.” This report concludes an extensive investigation  on the connections between U.S. universities, federally funded researchers, and organizations in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Notably, the minority members of both the House Select Committee and Education Committee did not contribute to this report.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal research funding over the past decade have contributed to China’s technological advancements and military modernization. The report claims that insufficient safeguards and oversight regarding research partnerships between U.S. and PRC institutions have enabled the PRC to gain access to dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies. It offers several policy recommendations summarized by the committee:

  • Enhancing safeguards for research collaborations involving dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies with concerning foreign entities.
  • Introducing post-award restrictions on collaborations with blacklisted entities from countries of concern.
  • Supporting the DETERRENT Act, which would require greater transparency from universities and researchers regarding foreign gifts and contracts.
  • Improving oversight and enforcement related to postsecondary institutions’ obligations to disclose foreign gifts and contracts.

The House Select Committee does not function as a legislative committee, and its suggested policy recommendations may be considered by the relevant committees with jurisdiction.

Senate Homeland Security Committee advances S.4667: The Risky Research Review Act

On September 25, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed S.4667 led by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) with a vote of 8-1.

In 2017, the Potentially Pandemic Pathogen Care Oversight Committee (PC3O) was established by the Department of Health and Human Services to review research proposals on enhanced pathogens with the potential to cause pandemics. So far, it has only reviewed a small number of proposals. This bill would alter that process and add the Life Sciences Research Security Board to review additional research proposals involving pathogens and have a wider scope of proposals than PC3O, including gain-of-function research.

This amended bill also includes a more detailed definition of dual use research of concern that aligns further with the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s updated Policy of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential.

From here, the bill could move to the Senate floor. UNC Public Affairs will continue to closely monitor this legislation. Please contact Kelly Dockham with questions.

Senate Judiciary Committee postpones markup of three patent bills

The Senate Judiciary Committee was originally scheduled to mark up three bills on September 26 aimed at strengthening the U.S. patent system and enhancing university research and innovation:  the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act (S.2220), the Patent Eligibility Restoration (PERA) Act (S.2140), and the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement (IDEA) Act (S.4713). The markup had been postponed and will be addressed during the lame duck session following the continuing resolution vote.

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