House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday pledged a vote this year on a bill targeting Chinese biotech contractors, providing fresh momentum to the legislation.
Johnson listed the Biosecure Act among his China-related legislative priorities in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.
Under the bill, US firms would have until 2032 to stop contracting with “companies of concern” such as WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics and BGI. Despite that grace period, drugmakers still face uncertainty in switching from popular WuXi services.
“We will vote on the Biosecure Act, which will halt federal contracts with biotech companies that are beholden to adversaries,” Johnson said.
In June, the Biosecure Act encountered a setback, failing to muster the support for inclusion in a must-pass spending bill for the Department of Defense. But now Biosecure has a clearer path forward, though its prospects in the Senate are uncertain. A Senate committee in March advanced a bill similar to the House version of Biosecure, although it’s unknown if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring the bill to a floor vote.
Representatives for WuXi AppTec, the largest of the contractors named in the Biosecure Act, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Johnson also said he expected that the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party would continue in the next Congress. The Biosecure Act was written by leaders of the committee.