After the House of Representatives passed a bill to ban biotech and pharma companies from working with a handful of Chinese contractors, opponents of the legislation are raising new questions about the proposal and arguing that it was written too quickly and too broadly.
On Monday night, the Biosecure Act passed the House by a 306-81 margin. It now heads to the Senate, which will have to decide whether to take it up or consider its own version — all steps that will continue debate on the measure.
Some of the loudest opposition to the bill has been led by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), whose Massachusetts district is home to a WuXi Biologics facility — one of the companies the law would bar. McGovern has said the bill lacks any specific explanation as to why one Chinese supplier might be deemed a “company of concern,” while another wouldn’t be.
Chinese groups that would be barred from working with US biopharma companies include WuXi Biologics, WuXi AppTec, BGI and others. McGovern called for federal investigations into the accusations about the Chinese companies, since there currently doesn’t seem to be a path for companies to get off the list of banned entities.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, said on the floor yesterday, “Make no mistake: BGI, WuXi AppTec, and WuXi Biologics all pose unacceptable threats to national security. The evidence is clear and available to all Members.” That evidence has yet to be made public, and even some Republicans didn’t see the evidence as being so clear.
“This bill arbitrarily targets existing private companies without due process, and gives the administration too much discretion to do the same thing in the future,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who was one of only two Republicans to vote against the bill yesterday, told Endpoints News via email.
Those concerns were echoed by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), one of 79 Democrats to vote against the bill. Doggett told Endpoints in an email that “House Republicans rushed this bill onto the floor without allowing our full democratic process to take place and guarantee the strongest legislation possible.”
Other influential Democrats who voted against the Biosecure Act included House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone (NJ) and Rosa DeLauro (CT), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.
What remains to be seen is whether any of those Democratic heavyweights can convince Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to hold off moving forward with the Biosecure Act.
Either way, biopharma companies are already taking note of the shifting tide in Congress against working with manufacturing, development and genomics suppliers in China.