April 10, 2025
Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mr. Schmitt) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
To prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to support animal experimentation in the laboratories of adversarial nations.
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 Accountability in Foreign Animal Research Act
.
Sec. 2. Prohibition on funding research on animals in certain foreign countries
(a) In general
The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not—
(1)
directly or indirectly conduct biomedical research or experimentation that involves testing on vertebrate animals in any facility, or through any entity, located in, or owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by—
(A)
any of the foreign countries specified in subsection (b); or
(B)
such other foreign country that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, determines is a foreign country of concern for the purposes of this Act; or
(2)
support, through grants, subgrants, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other funding vehicles, biomedical research or experimentation that involves testing on vertebrate animals conducted by any entity based in a foreign country referred to in paragraph (1).
(b) Foreign countries specified
The foreign countries specified in this subsection are the following:
(1)
The People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
(2)
The Islamic Republic of Iran.
(3)
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
(4)
The Russian Federation.
(c) Report on addition to list of foreign countries
(1) In general
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to the chairperson and ranking member of each of the appropriate committees of Congress a report with respect to each instance in which the Secretary makes a determination with respect to a country under subsection (a)(1)(B) that contains a detailed accounting of the Secretary’s reasoning for such determination.
(2) Timing
A report shall be submitted under paragraph (1) not later than 60 days after the date of an instance described in such paragraph.
(3) Appropriate committees of Congress
In this section, the term appropriate committees of Congress means—
(A)
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(B)
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate;
(C)
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
(D)
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives;
(E)
the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and
(F)
the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.