Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7165

WATCH Act

Animal Research: New Rules for Foreign Labs

5 months ago·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

The WATCH Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently sent to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for review. No further actions are scheduled at this time, and the bill is considered to be moving forward.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While it has bipartisan support, bills requiring international inspections often face diplomatic hurdles and logistical challenges that make them hard to pass.

Key Points

This bill requires foreign laboratories that receive money from the National Institutes of Health to follow strict animal welfare rules. These labs would face inspections every three months to make sure they are treating animals humanely.
The inspections will check if the labs have proper animal care committees, provide good treatment, and keep accurate records. If a lab fails to meet these standards, the government will give them a chance to fix the problems.
If a foreign lab refuses to fix safety or welfare issues, the government can take away their federal funding or cancel their research contracts. This ensures that U.S. tax dollars are only used in facilities that meet American standards.
The public will be able to see the results of these inspections. The government will post compliance certificates online so people can track which foreign labs are following the rules.
The policy would start about six months after it is signed into law. It requires U.S. officials to work with foreign governments to make sure these inspections can actually happen in other countries.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Jan 20, 2026House

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Jan 20, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.

News

No related news coverage found for this legislation yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

WATCH Act

Bill NumberHR 7165

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(2)

D: 2

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.