Sen. Scott Introduces Bill to Block Federal Research Funds for Colleges Taking Money from China and Russia
This bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently introduced and sent to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for review. No further actions are scheduled at this time.
While there is bipartisan concern about foreign influence in schools, this specific bill is sponsored by a single member and has not yet gained broad support or moved past the committee stage.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
Graduate students and researchers at major universities could lose access to federally funded labs, assistantships, and research opportunities if their school is found to have accepted foreign money from a listed country. Universities that lose federal R&D funding would likely cut research programs, reducing the number of graduate positions and the quality of research training available to students in fields like AI, biotech, and quantum science.
“such institution may not, for a period of 5 years after such receipt, be awarded a research and development award.”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
A bipartisan group led by Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Josh Gottheimer introduced legislation to cut off federal R&D funding for five years for universities that accept money from hostile nations like China and Russia for research in sensitive fields like AI and biotechnology.
Lawmakers introduced two bills to prevent federal research dollars from flowing to institutions that operate branch campuses in hostile nations or receive foreign funding for national security-related research, targeting countries including China, Russia, Iran, and Qatar.
New bipartisan bills, including the Defending American Research Act, propose a five-year ban on federal research dollars for universities accepting funds from adversarial nations. While aimed at national security, experts warn of potential chilling effects on international collaboration.
No votes recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
A bill to amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 to prohibit certain institutions of higher education from receiving research and development awards, and for other purposes.
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