S 769 — United States Research Protection Act of 2025

Summary

This bill would clarify and strengthen restrictions on malign foreign talent recruitment in U.S. research programs, amending the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act. It would change "foreign country" to "foreign country of concern" in the statute and broaden the definition to include programs, positions, or activities involving funding or support provided either directly or indirectly by such countries. The bill restructures nine criteria for identifying malign talent recruitment programs and removes one existing criterion from the definition. These changes would expand the scope of what the federal government considers restricted participation in foreign talent recruitment programs.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)

4 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to John Cornyn’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

CAPITAL GROUP $22,500
ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ $16,500
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES $13,686
WINKLEVOSS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT $13,200
BLACKSTONE $12,600

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for John Cornyn → · Outside spending →

Actions (5)

Jul 22, 2025 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 123. · senate
Jul 22, 2025 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz without amendment. With written report No. 119-45. · senate
Apr 30, 2025 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably. · senate
Feb 27, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
Feb 27, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 27, 2025

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Padilla, and Mr. Curtis) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

July 22, 2025

Reported by Mr. Cruz, without amendment

A BILL

To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to clarify the definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction, 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 “United States Research Protection Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF FOREIGN COUNTRY FOR PURPOSES OF MALIGN FOREIGN TALENT RECRUITMENT RESTRICTION.

Paragraph (4) of section 10638 of title VI of division B of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19237) is amended—

(1) by inserting “of concern” after “foreign country” each place such term appears;

(2) by striking “means—” and all that follows through “any program, position, or activity” and inserting “means any program, position, or activity”;

(3) by striking subparagraph (B);

(4) by redesignating clauses (i) through (ix) as subparagraphs (A) through (I), respectively, and moving such subparagraphs, as so redesignated, two ems to the left;

(5) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), as so redesignated, by striking “directly provided” and inserting “whether directly or indirectly provided”; and

(6) in subparagraph (I), as so redesignated, by striking “; and” and inserting a period. Calendar No. 123

119th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 769

[Report No. 119-45]