To prohibit persons who are not citizens of the United States, except for those from the Five Eyes, from accessing or entering Department of Energy sites and facilities.
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Steube introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill prohibits all non-U.S. citizens from entering or accessing any Department of Energy (DOE) site or facility, including national laboratories, nuclear facilities, and research centers. The only exceptions are citizens of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The ban takes effect 60 days after the bill becomes law.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. citizen workers in DOE-related fields may face less competition for positions at DOE facilities, since foreign nationals from most countries would be barred entirely. Citizens of Five Eyes countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK) maintain their access privileges, preserving their research and employment opportunities at DOE sites. Domestic security agencies benefit from reduced foreign national presence at sensitive energy facilities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Foreign national scientists and researchers from countries outside the Five Eyes alliance lose access to DOE facilities, effectively ending their careers at national laboratories and nuclear research sites. DOE contractors employing foreign nationals must terminate or reassign those employees, facing increased compliance costs and potential workforce disruptions. International scientific collaborations with DOE facilities face new barriers, as researchers from partner countries can no longer visit or work at these sites. The Department of Energy itself faces new enforcement and compliance burdens in vetting all facility access and revising regulations.
Key Provisions
- Blanket prohibition on non-U.S. citizens accessing any DOE site or facility owned, operated, or leased by the Department
- Exemption for citizens of Five Eyes countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom)
- 60-day implementation period before prohibition takes effect
- Requires Secretary of Energy to revise all regulations, guidelines, policies, and procedures within 60 days to implement the ban
- No case-by-case waiver authority or exceptions for researchers, students, or visiting scientists from non-Five Eyes countries
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibits non-U.S. citizens from accessing Department of Energy sites and facilities, with exceptions for Five Eyes countries
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Restrict foreign national access to sensitive Department of Energy facilities while maintaining intelligence-sharing relationships with Five Eyes allies"
Likely Beneficiaries
- U.S. workers who may replace foreign nationals
- Domestic security agencies
- Five Eyes ally citizens with existing access
Likely Burden Bearers
- Non-Five Eyes foreign national researchers and workers at DOE facilities
- DOE contractors employing foreign nationals
- International scientific collaborations
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Energy
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Citizens of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom are exempt from the access prohibition
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology