Senate May Add USICA, Export Control Provisions to NDAA, Schumer Says

The Senate is “likely” to vote on the annual defense policy bill this week, which could include the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. In a Nov. 14 letter to lawmakers, Schumer said “there seems to be fairly broad” bipartisan support for adding USICA to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would allow a USICA negotiation with the House “to be completed alongside” the NDAA before the end of the year. The House plans to write its own version of USICA.

The Senate version features a range of export control and semiconductor industry provisions to address trade and technology competition issues with China (see 2106100028). One provision would require the Biden administration to determine whether more export restrictions are needed for goods intended for crime control, censorship, surveillance or DNA sequencing uses, which could be used for human rights violations. It would also require the State and Commerce departments, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and others to assess how the Chinese government is using Hong Kong to circumvent U.S. export controls. It calls for the modernization of controls over critical and emerging technologies -- including artificial intelligence and quantum computing -- and encourages more multilateral cooperation with allies on those controls.

The bill also includes some language on foreign direct investment. One provision would allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review certain foreign donations of $1 million or more to academic institutions. A conflicting provision prohibits CFIUS from reviewing a gift to a university “that is not a covered transaction as defined in section 721(a)(4) of the Defense Production Act of 1950.” U.S. universities have strongly opposed the provision allowing CFIUS review (see 2104270005).