U.S. senators seek to block foreign adversaries from AI technology in new bill
Senators Tim Scott and Bill Hagerty, who managed to push the crypto GENIUS Act into law, introduced the bill to give the government powers to defend U.S. AI.
By Jesse Hamilton|Edited by Nikhilesh De
Jun 30, 2026, 11:02 p.m.
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Summary
The U.S. Commerce Department would have more authority to shield domestic artificial intelligence technology from the supply chains of foreign adversaries in a bill introduced Tuesday by two Republican senators who’ve been at the center of crypto legislation in this congressional session: Tim Scott and Bill Hagerty.
The new bill would give Commerce the ability to block “transactions involving technology designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned, controlled, or directed by foreign adversary countries.” But it’s being pushed by the two Republicans as this session of Congress is winding toward the summer break and midterm elections, leaving it little opportunity to advance unless it’s later latched onto a must-move bill.
“Americans should not have to worry that China or Russia can use the technology in our cars, phones, or networks against us,” said Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who worked with Hagerty to pass last year’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
Foreign adversaries are nations determined to be actively working against U.S. national security, currently including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Russia has run afoul of the U.S. in the cybersecurity realm, and China’s tech sector and AI advances are particularly relevant for this legislation.
The bill would codify a position at the Commerce Department to oversee this authority, the assistant secretary of commerce for information and communications technology supply chains. It would also seek to maintain public access to open-source AI software.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to promote U.S. AI innovation, noting its intent to also “protect American ingenuity and intellectual property from exploitation and theft by adversaries.”
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