Sponsors (3)
The bill strengthens national security and reduces the risk that sensitive genetic designs are abused by restricting foreign access to digital synthetic DNA/RNA, but it does so at the cost of added licensing and compliance burdens that could slow scientific collaboration, increase costs for researchers and institutions, and delay biotech innovation.
Taxpayers and the general public: The bill restricts transfers of novel human- or AI-designed synthetic DNA/RNA to foreign entities of concern, reducing the chance adversaries can acquire designs that accelerate biological-threat capabilities.
The general public: Limiting uncontrolled access to sensitive digital genetic sequences reduces the risk those designs could be used to develop biological threats, improving public health safety.
Scientists and biotech entrepreneurs: The bill helps protect biotech companies' intellectual property by reducing the risk of sequence-data theft through exports.
Scientists, biotech firms, and tech workers: New licensing requirements and export controls will impose administrative burdens and costs that slow collaborations and delay research and development.
Researchers, students, and international collaborators: Export controls on digital DNA/RNA will hinder legitimate international scientific collaboration and data sharing, slowing innovation and public-health research.
Universities, financial institutions, and companies that facilitate cross-border biotech activity: The bill increases compliance costs and creates uncertainty (including from ambiguous definitions and reliance on existing exclusions), raising administrative burdens and risking uneven enforcement.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires export licenses within one year for sending digital sequences of synthetic DNA or RNA to foreign entities of concern, with definitions and limited regulatory exceptions.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress December 11, 2025
Requires exporters to obtain a U.S. government license, within one year after enactment, before sending any digital sequence of human- or AI-designed synthetic DNA or RNA to certain foreign governments or entities tied to those governments. The bill defines key terms (digital sequence, synthetic DNA/RNA, foreign country/entity of concern) and ties the new licensing rule into existing export control law while preserving an existing regulatory exception. Also includes a non-binding finding that the People’s Republic of China conducts systematic efforts to access U.S. biotech data and intellectual property and that restricting export of digital genetic sequences is necessary to protect national security.