S2986-119

Introduced

To establish certain conditions on employment and other work arrangements at the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the safety and security of drugs and devices.

119th Congress Introduced Oct 8, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

Restricts FDA employment and post-employment work for people tied to China, Russia, or Iran, and limits access to drug and device review information for FDA reviewers with specified foreign-country ties.

Who Benefits and How

The bill is aimed at reducing foreign influence and information-security risk in FDA drug and device review.

Who Bears the Burden and How

FDA applicants, employees, contractors, and volunteers with covered nationality, family, or employment ties would face eligibility, reporting, termination, access, and post-employment restrictions. FDA managers would need to administer those screening and access-control rules.

Key Provisions

  • Bars nationals of China, Russia, or Iran from paid FDA employment or paid service arrangements.
  • Requires FDA workers with immediate family members from a foreign country of concern to report that fact.
  • Requires termination for failure to make the required family-tie report.
  • Imposes a ten-year post-FDA restriction on work for entities based in a foreign country of concern.
  • Restricts drug and device review information access for reviewers with covered family ties or prior covered employment.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Restricts FDA employment and post-employment work for people tied to China, Russia, or Iran, and limits access to drug and device review information for FDA reviewers with specified foreign-country ties.

Key Policy Areas

Health, National Security, Government Operations

Primary Purpose

Restricts FDA employment and post-employment work for people tied to China, Russia, or Iran, and limits access to drug and device review information for FDA reviewers with specified foreign-country ties.

Policy Domains

Health National Security Government Operations

Main Provisions

Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • FDA drug and device review programs seeking lower foreign influence and information-security risk
  • Patients and regulated markets that rely on trusted FDA review integrity
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • FDA workers and applicants with specified ties to China, Russia, or Iran
  • FDA offices responsible for screening, reporting processes, terminations, and access controls
  • Entities based in China, Russia, or Iran seeking former FDA workers or FDA-connected labor
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Oct 8, 2025

Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Health Care
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

FDA drug and device review programs protected from covered foreign influence and information-access risk

Government Employees
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

FDA employees, applicants, contractors, or volunteers with covered foreign-country ties

Foreign Entities
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Entities based in China, Russia, or Iran seeking FDA current or former personnel

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Health National Security Government Operations
Actor Mappings
"secretary"
→ Secretary of Health and Human Services
"commissioner"
→ Commissioner of Food and Drugs
"food_and_drug_administration"
→ Food and Drug Administration

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

2 terms
"foreign country of concern" §2(f)(1)

The People's Republic of China, Russia, or Iran.

"immediate family" §2(f)(2)

An individual's mother, father, sibling, or child.

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