Wire
Labs face a new ban on federally funded foreign collaborations
The proposal would cover grants, contracts and other federal awards, including coauthored work and personnel exchanges. OSTP would have to issue government-wide guidance so agencies use the same definitions and enforcement rules.
Researchers, universities and labs that depend on federal money would have to check a new red line under a House bill from Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar. The proposal would bar those funds from supporting research collaborations with entities on U.S. restricted lists, or with individuals associated with them.
The bill treats collaboration broadly. It would cover joint projects, coauthored work, data sharing, material transfers, joint labs and personnel exchanges, which means the restriction reaches well beyond a formal partnership agreement.
A single rulebook for agencies
The proposal would also require the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP, working with relevant research agencies, to issue government-wide guidance. The goal is to make compliance rules, definitions and enforcement mechanisms line up across the federal research system.
The bill leaves room for waivers in some cases, so the ban is not absolute. But the default is clear: if federal dollars are flowing into the work, they could not be used to support collaboration with a restricted foreign entity or someone tied to it.