U.S. House Passes Security Bill to Prevent the Chinese Communist Party and Other Adversaries from Stealing Sensitive Technologies

File photo: Republican Representative Mike Lawler being interviewed by Voice of America in 2023. He is the sponsor of the Remote Access Security Act.

[People News] The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday (January 12) passed the Remote Access Security Act to restrict the ability of the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries to remotely obtain U.S. technologies through cloud computing.

According to a report by Voice of America, the bipartisan bill passed by an overwhelming vote of 369 to 22. The legislation updates the existing Export Control Reform Act, expanding the scope of the U.S. export control regime.

The 2018 Export Control Reform Act provided permanent legal authority for the U.S. government to regulate dual-use items and certain military components. The Remote Access Security Act further expands the scope of control by stipulating that if remote access authorization to controlled items poses a serious threat to U.S. national security or foreign policy, such remote access authorization shall also fall under regulatory control.

Controlled remote access authorizations include:
(1) training artificial intelligence models that, among other functions, can significantly lower the threshold for experts or non-experts to design or use weapons of mass destruction, or can automatically discover and exploit vulnerabilities and carry out cyberattacks;
(2) access to quantum computers that could facilitate cyberattacks or pose other national security risks;
(3) obtaining hacking tools.

The bill was introduced by Republican Representative Mike Lawler of New York. After its passage, Lawler posted on the X platform, saying: “My Remote Access Security Act closes a loophole in U.S. export control law that allowed companies aligned with the Chinese Communist Party to obtain restricted U.S. technologies through cloud services.”

“The Chinese Communist Party’s artificial intelligence ambitions are being fueled by its access to U.S. chips stored in data centers located outside China,” said John Moolenaar, Republican Representative from Michigan and chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in a statement released Monday. “This legislation brings our laws into the digital age and makes clear that cloud computing services, just like physical chips, are subject to U.S. export control laws. Closing these loopholes will strengthen U.S. national security and protect American innovation.”

In September 2024, the previous House of Representatives had also passed the Remote Access Security Act introduced by Lawler together with bipartisan House members, but the bill stalled in the Senate.

In December 2025, Republican Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced a Senate version of the Remote Access Security Act.

Under the U.S. legislative process, a bill must be passed by both the House and the Senate in identical text before it can be sent to the president for signature into law. △