| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 738 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide a moratorium on all Federal research grants provided to any |
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| 6 | 6 | | institution of higher education or other research institute that is con- |
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| 7 | 7 | | ducting dangerous gain-of-function research. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY26, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. M |
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| 11 | 11 | | ARSHALL(for himself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following |
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| 12 | 12 | | bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- |
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| 13 | 13 | | cation, Labor, and Pensions |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To provide a moratorium on all Federal research grants |
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| 16 | 16 | | provided to any institution of higher education or other |
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| 17 | 17 | | research institute that is conducting dangerous gain-of- |
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| 18 | 18 | | function research. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dangerous Viral Gain 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | of Function Research Moratorium Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Mar 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S738.IS S738 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | •S 738 IS |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL RESEARCH GRANTS 1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | FOR INSTITUTIONS AND RESEARCH INSTI-2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | TUTES CONDUCTING DANGEROUS GAIN-OF- 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | FUNCTION RESEARCH. 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (a) D |
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| 32 | 32 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (1) G |
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| 34 | 34 | | AIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH .—The term 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | ‘‘gain-of-function research’’ means any research 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | that— 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (A) involves the genetic alteration of an or-9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ganism to change or enhance the organism’s bi-10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | ological functions, which change or enhance-11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ment may include increased infectivity, trans-12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | missibility, pathogenicity, or host range (which 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | is the spectrum of hosts that an organism can 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | infect); or 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (B) may be reasonably anticipated to con-16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | fer attributes to an organism, such that the or-17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ganism would have enhanced infectivity, patho-18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | genicity, or transmissibility, or otherwise pose a 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | threat to national security, public safety, or the 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | health of humans, companion animals, or live-21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | stock, poultry, seafood and aquaculture species, 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | or game animals. 23 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (2) O |
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| 53 | 53 | | RGANISM.— The term ‘‘organism’’ means 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | an influenza virus, a coronavirus (including a Middle 25 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, 26 |
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| 56 | 56 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Mar 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S738.IS S738 |
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| 57 | 57 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •S 738 IS |
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| 59 | 59 | | SARS–CoV–1, SARS–CoV–2, or SARS-like viruses), 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | or an agent or toxin on the Select Agents and Tox-2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ins List of the Department of Health and Human 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | Services or the Department of Agriculture under 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | part 331 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | part 121 of title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, or 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | part 73 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, or 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | any synthetic construct of such virus, agent, or 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | toxin. 9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (b) P |
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| 69 | 69 | | ROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | sion of law, no research grants supported by Federal funds 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | may be awarded to institutions of higher education, or 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | other research institutes, that are conducting gain-of-func-13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | tion research. 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | Æ |
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| 75 | 75 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Mar 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S738.IS S738 |
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| 76 | 76 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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