Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Foreign Adversary Gain-of-Function Research Prevention Act of 2023”.
Foreign Adversary Gain-of-Function Research Prevention Act of 2023
A BILL
To prohibit the use of Federal funds to conduct or support certain gain-of-function research by a foreign adversary.
Sec. 2 Prohibition on Federal funding for certain gain-of-function research by a foreign adversary
In general— No Federal funds may be made available, whether directly or indirectly, or used by an entity, to conduct or support any gain-of-function research involving a potential pandemic pathogen by a foreign adversary, including—
China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea; and
any other country the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, or any other appropriate Federal official, determines to be a foreign adversary for the purposes of this section.
Funding freeze for violations— If the Secretary of State determines that an entity has violated subsection (a), such entity—
for the 3-year period beginning on the date of such determination, may not receive any award or subaward of a grant, cooperative agreement, loan, or contract from the Department of Health and Human Services; and
for the 3-year period beginning on the day after the last day of the period described in paragraph (1), may not receive any award of a grant, cooperative agreement, loan, or contract from the Department of Health and Human Services unless the entity agrees, as a condition of receiving such award to—
give notice to the Congress before using such award to make any subaward; and
include in any such notice the intended recipient and purpose of the subaward.
Definitions— In this section:
Gain-of-function research— The term gain-of-function research means any research that may be reasonably anticipated to confer an attribute to a pathogen such that the pathogen would have enhanced pathogenicity or transmissibility in mammals, including the creation of a chimera.
Potential pandemic pathogen— The term potential pandemic pathogen means a pathogen that, as a result of any gain-of-function research—
is likely more transmissible or likely capable of wide and uncontrollable spread in human populations;
is likely more virulent or likely to cause modest or greater morbidity or mortality in humans; or
is likely to pose a severe threat to public health, the capacity of the public health systems to function, or national security.