Sen. Cotton Introduces Bill to Bar Foreign Nationals From FDA

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has introduced a bill to bar foreign nationals from adversarial nations from employment with the Food and Drug Administration.

If passed, the American Medicine Safety and Security Act would prohibit individuals with ties to China, Russia, or Iran from working at the nation's preeminent regulator for food, medications, medical devices, and cosmetics, according to a release from Cotton's office.

"The oversight of our food and medicine is too important to allow corruption from adversarial foreign nationals," Cotton said. "My bill will establish safeguards at FDA to protect Americans' health and intellectual property."

Additionally, the legislation would:

• Require FDA employees to report whether they have immediate family members who are Chinese, Russian, or Iranian nationals.
• Ban FDA employees from working for entities operating in China, Russia, or Iran for 10 years following their employment at the FDA.
• Prohibit FDA employees from accessing data for drugs or devices stored within divisions outside of the one in which they work if they formerly worked at an entity based in China, Russia, or Iran or a member of their immediate family is a Chinese, Russian, or Iranian national.

The senator's bill follows a trio of similar measures introduced by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., over the summer aimed at curbing foreign influence within the United States.

The first bill introduced by Blackburn would ban foreign individuals and entities from hostile countries from owning agricultural land in the United States.

The second would prohibit the District of Columbia from maintaining "sister city" partnerships with adversarial nations.

The third measure introduced by the Tennessee Republican in August would direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate "opaque" real estate purchases from foreign buyers, including any national security risks they may pose.

Cotton’s bill was introduced Wednesday and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. It remains unclear when it might advance, given the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 13th day.

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