US Congress · H.R. 1318 · Passed the House

United States Research Protection Act

Introduced

Moved

Reached a final decision

Introduced 2025-02-13

Derived from the official record below.

Officially: “United States Research Protection Act” Read the full text

Science, Technology, Communications

What it does

United States Research Protection Act This bill clarifies the definition of a malign foreign talent recruitment program under the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act. The Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act, which was included in the CHIPS and Science Act, prohibits researchers who receive federal funds from participating in malign foreign talent recruitment programs, in which foreign countries incentivize or compensate researchers for activities that present a conflict of interest for the researcher or that are otherwise unauthorized (e.g., sharing

Summary by the Congressional Research Service, from the official record. Plain-language version below. Not legal advice.

Read it in plain language

AI plain language2 sections

Written by AI from the complete official bill text and independently fact-checked against it. Not legal advice.

1Short title

This section would give the Act the short title "United States Research Protection Act."

Show official text

Official text, verbatim from the record

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the United States Research Protection Act .

2Clarification of definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction

This section would make a series of textual amendments to paragraph (4) of section 10638 of title VI of division B of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (Public Law 117-167; 42 U.S.C. 19237), which defines terms used for the malign foreign talent recruitment program restriction. The amendments would insert "of concern" after "foreign country" everywhere that term appears, rewrite the introductory clause of the definition, strike an existing subparagraph (B) entirely, renumber and reformat the remaining list items, change "directly provided" to "whether directly or indirectly provided," and adjust the punctuation of the final list item. Stating what the amended definition actually covers (including what subparagraph (B) removes and what falls in the renumbered list items) requires the current text of 42 U.S.C. 19237(4), which is not included in the provided bill text.

Show official text

Official text, verbatim from the record

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 ( Public Law 117–167 ; 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.

AI plain languageRead the whole bill in plain language, 2 sections

Where it is

Introduced · 2025-02-13

In the House.

Passed the House · 2025-03-24

Senate floor vote · next · the next step

Official documents

Full bill textread it on this site, version rfs (Referred in Senate), as published by GovInfo

official

The on-site text is shown verbatim from the GovInfo publication, captured 2026-07-23. The same version at GovInfo.

The numbers

29%

of bills that passed one chamber became law in the 118th Congress, 2023 to 2024 (n=939)

sponsors, out of 218 needed to pass

Who is lobbying on this

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATIONvia NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION

1 filing

From 1 filing in federal lobbying disclosures (LDA), via lda.gov, naming this bill (2025). Filings are self-reported by lobbying firms and show who is paid to influence this bill. They do not say which side, or whether it worked.

Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record. Last action: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (2025-03-25).