119-s929

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 929 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 929

 To prohibit National Laboratories from admitting certain foreign 
 nationals, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 March 11 (legislative day, March 10), 2025

 Mr. Cotton (for himself, Mr. Lee, Ms. Collins, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. 
Lankford, and Mr. Risch) introduced the following bill; which was read 
 twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To prohibit National Laboratories from admitting certain foreign 
 nationals, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Guarding American Technology from 
Exploitation Act of 2025'' or the ``GATE Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON NATIONAL LABORATORIES ADMITTING CERTAIN FOREIGN 
 NATIONALS.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Assignee.--The term ``assignee'' means an individual 
 who is seeking approval from, or has been approved by, a 
 National Laboratory to access the premises, information, or 
 technology of the National Laboratory for a period of more than 
 30 consecutive days.

    (2) Covered foreign national.--
        (A) In general.--The term ``covered foreign 
 national'' means a foreign national of any of the 
 following countries:
            (i) The People's Republic of China.
            (ii) The Russian Federation.
            (iii) The Islamic Republic of Iran.
            (iv) The Democratic People's Republic of 
 Korea.
            (v) The Republic of Cuba.
        (B) Exclusion.--The term ``covered foreign 
 national'' does not include an individual that is--
            (i) lawfully admitted for permanent 
 residence (as defined in 

section 101

    (a) of the 
 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
 1101

    (a) )); or
            (ii) a citizen of the United States.

    (3) Foreign national.--The term ``foreign national'' has 
 the meaning given the term ``alien'' in 

section 101

    (a) of the 
 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101

    (a) ).

    (4) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory'' 
 has the meaning given the term in 

section 2 of the Energy 
 Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).

    (5) Senior counterintelligence official.--The term ``senior 
 counterintelligence official'' means--
        (A) the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation;
        (B) the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation;
            (C) the Executive Assistant Director of the 
 National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation; and
            (D) the Assistant Director of the 
 Counterintelligence Division of the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation.

    (6) Visitor.--The term ``visitor'' means an individual who 
 is seeking approval from, or has been approved by, a National 
 Laboratory to access the premises, information, or technology 
 of the National Laboratory for any period shorter than a period 
 described in paragraph

    (1) .

    (b) Prohibition.--

    (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph

    (2) , 
 beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, a National 
 Laboratory--
        (A) shall not admit as a visitor or assignee any 
 covered foreign national; and
        (B) shall prohibit access to any visitor or 
 assignee that is a covered foreign national and has 
 sought or obtained approval to access the premises, 
 information, or technology of the National Laboratory 
 as of that date.

    (2) Waiver.--Paragraph

    (1) shall not apply to a National 
 Laboratory with respect to a covered foreign national if the 
 Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Director of the 
 Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence of the 
 Department of Energy and a senior counterintelligence 
 official--
        (A) certifies that the benefits to the United 
 States of admittance or access to the National 
 Laboratory by the covered foreign national outweigh the 
 national security and economic risks to the United 
 States; and
        (B) issues to the National Laboratory, in writing, 
 a waiver of paragraph

    (1) with respect to the covered 
 foreign national.

    (3) Notification to congress.--Not later than 30 days after 
 the date on which a waiver is issued under paragraph

    (2) , the 
 Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Select Committee on 
 Intelligence of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
 Resources of the Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
 and Transportation of the Senate, the Permanent Select 
 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives, the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
 Representatives, and the Committee on Science, Space, and 
 Technology of the House of Representatives a notification 
 describing the waiver, including--
        (A) the country of origin of the covered foreign 
 national who is the subject of the waiver;
        (B) the date of the request by the covered foreign 
 national for admission or access to the National 
 Laboratory;
            (C) the date on which the decision to issue the 
 waiver was made; and
            (D) the specific reasons for issuing the waiver.
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