After initially blocking a provision that would have barred federal contractors from working with a Chinese-military-linked biotech conglomerate, Senator Gary Peters will attempt to turn the tables on those who want to see the company’s activities restricted, National Review has learned.
The provision in question would have applied to BGI Genomics, a massive Shenzhen-based DNA sequencing giant that has reportedly worked with the People’s Liberation Army on several research projects involving analysis of ethnic minorities’ genetic material. BGI is reported to have hoovered up genetic data from millions of women across the world through its pre-natal testing kit, according to Reuters. The Pentagon has labeled it a Chinese military company.
After the House of Representatives passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act with the provision — which would have barred federal agencies from contracting with BGI and with entities that do business with BGI — Peters blocked its inclusion from a bicameral compromise version of the bill, NR reported.
His staff said that he viewed it as likely to negatively affect American businesses and said that he was working on compromise version. Up to that point, he had not proposed such an alternative.
But Peters advanced his own version of this legislation after NR reported on his opposition to the House provision, securing support from several of the other relevant lawmakers. But Senator Rand Paul, whose approval was necessary for its inclusion in the bill, said that he would only accept the tougher, House-passed version, a person familiar with the matter said. It was left out of the NDAA.
Peters is now expected to put a standalone bill on the Senate floor this afternoon. His team argues that it’s tougher than the House-passed bill, calling that “too weak” to stop every company that would share U.S. genetic data with America’s adversaries.
Unlike the House-passed version, the Peters bill would not ban BGI or its affiliates in the U.S. from working with the federal government; it would instead instruct the executive branch to review whether BGI and its subsidiaries should be labeled “companies of concern” to which restrictions would apply. It creates a special executive branch committee for that purpose. The bill bans companies of concern from federal procurements, though not loans, grants, or contracts.
A Peters aide told NR: “Senator Peters’ bill not only bans problematic companies like BGI, MGI and Complete Genomics from federal contracts, it prevents foreign companies from gaming the system by reorganizing or hiding their corporate structure, and it creates a tight net to capture all biotech companies that pose a threat to our national security.”
One person familiar with the situation said that Peters’s strategy appears to be to dare proponents of banning BGI to object to unanimous consent on his version of the bill — and risk being labeled insufficiently tough on the issue.
That’s likely to tee up a fight with Senator Bill Hagerty, one of the co-authors of the initial bill that was included in the House version of the NDAA, who will also seek unanimous approval for his original legislation on the floor this afternoon.
Meanwhile, BGI and Complete Genomics, a U.S.-based affiliate of BGI spin-off firm MGI, spent a combined $420,000 on a beltway lobbying campaign from the start of July through the end of September.
Senate Democrat to Push Watered-Down Bill on Chinese Biotech amid Intense Lobbying Campaign
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12.12.2023
After initially blocking a provision that would have barred federal contractors from working with a Chinese-military-linked biotech conglomerate, Senator Gary Peters will attempt to turn the tables on those who want to see the company’s activities restricted, National Review has learned.
The provision in question would have applied to BGI Genomics, a massive Shenzhen-based DNA sequencing giant that has reportedly worked with the People’s Liberation Army on several research projects involving analysis of ethnic minorities’ genetic material. BGI is reported to have hoovered up genetic data from millions of women across the world through its pre-natal testing kit, according to Reuters. The Pentagon has labeled it a Chinese military company.
After the House of Representatives passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act with the provision........
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