Sponsors (2)
The bill reduces the risk of accidental creation or release of dangerous pathogens by banning federally funded gain‑of‑function work, at the cost of slowing some pathogen research, potentially shifting risky work outside federal oversight, and reducing funding and increasing compliance burdens for affected researchers and institutions.
Researchers, patients, and the general public face a lower risk of accidental creation or release of more infectious or pathogenic organisms because the bill bans federally funded gain‑of‑function experiments.
Livestock owners, pet owners, wildlife populations, and rural communities are better protected from potential novel pathogens because high‑risk organism work is excluded from federally funded projects.
Universities and federally funded researchers may see federal research dollars redirected away from risky experiments toward safer research and biosafety measures, potentially strengthening oversight and safer research lines.
Patients, seniors, and others relying on vaccines and treatments could face slower progress because limits on federal funding may slow legitimate basic research on influenza, coronaviruses (including SARS‑CoV‑2), and related work that informs countermeasures.
Taxpayers and the public may lose transparency and oversight if risky gain‑of‑function research shifts to privately funded or foreign labs with weaker controls, raising national security and biosecurity risks.
Researchers and university staff could lose federal grant funding and resulting research jobs and career opportunities if their work is classified as gain‑of‑function and becomes ineligible for funding.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Stops federal research grant awards to institutions conducting gain-of-function research on specified pathogens and synthetic constructs.
Official title: Provide a moratorium on all Federal research grants provided to any institution of higher education or other research institute that is conducting dangerous gain-of-function research.
Introduced February 26, 2025 by Roger Wayne Marshall · Last progress February 26, 2025
Prohibits federal research grants to universities and research institutes that conduct "gain-of-function" research that enhances biological traits such as infectivity, transmissibility, pathogenicity, or host range. It defines covered organisms to include influenza viruses, coronaviruses (including SARS, MERS, SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses), select agents and their synthetic constructs, and grounds the ban on risks to national security, public safety, and the health of people and animals.