Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation that would block national laboratories from admitting citizens of foreign adversaries, particularly those from communist China.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on March 11 amid growing concerns in Washington over intellectual property theft and espionage activities supported by Beijing.
“Foreign nationals in our country’s most sensitive labs pose a clear threat to our national security and should end immediately,” Cotton, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement while introducing the legislation.
“The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] and other hostile regimes have systematically targeted these labs, luring away top scientists and using American research to fuel their military ambitions,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement….