Sen. Rob Portman
Bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) to help stop foreign governments from stealing American taxpayer-funded research and intellectual property developed at U.S. colleges and universities has been included in a larger bill under consideration in Congress.
“We need to ensure that research is protected and that we safeguard the massive investment being made by the American taxpayer. And that’s exactly what this legislation will do,” said Sen. Portman. He noted that the bill “takes decisive action to safeguard American innovation, hold foreign adversaries like China accountable for their continued actions, and ensure our world-class research enterprise is protected here in America.”
The Safeguarding American Innovation Act, S. 3997, which Sen. Portman sponsored in June with lead original cosponsor U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), is now part of the larger Help End Abusive Living Situations (HEALS) Act, S. 1624.
“HEALS will provide billions of taxpayer dollars for vaccine, therapeutic and other COVID-19 related research,” Sen. Portman said. “We know China and other foreign actors are actively trying to steal this research. That’s why it’s important that the Safeguarding American Innovation Act has been included in the HEALS package.”
Sens. Portman and Carper led a PSI year-long investigation into this issue that culminated in a bipartisan report and hearing detailing how American taxpayers have unwittingly funded the rise of global competitors, which in the 1990s started recruiting U.S.-based scientists and researchers to transfer U.S. taxpayer-funded IP for their own economic and military gain, according to information provided by Sen. Portman’s office.
Their bill, as part of the HEALS Act, would ensure that the federal government safeguards American innovation, the information says, and would give the U.S. Department of Education increased authority to enforce foreign gift reporting rules toward increased transparency.
“For too long, foreign adversaries, like China, have exploited the lack of transparency in our education system to steal our taxpayer-funded research and innovation, and the federal government has done little or nothing to stop it,” Sen. Portman said, pointing out that inclusion of his bill in the HEALS package would increase transparency “to ensure that taxpayers know when colleges and universities accept significant foreign funding.”
Among the other cosponsors of Portman’s bill are U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Martha McSally (R-AZ).