Remote Access Security Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, I applaud Congressman Lawler for this fine bill. We have heard about the loophole that exists, and I will provide a few more details.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would allow the U.S. Government to extend existing export controls to the remote access of controlled U.S. technology through cloud infrastructure. Remote access is more than just the CCP. Remote access is defined as access by foreign persons of concern, specifically those from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, to also include Hong Kong and Macau.

Let me give you three examples of what we are talking about of high- risk national security activities involving access to controlled technologies such as advanced AI chips.

One example would be conducting surveillance to undermine human rights through spyware location tracking or biometric identification. That is not good stuff. We don't want the Chinese and our countries of concern to be using the best American technology remotely to do that. Nor do we want them to train AI models to enable weapons of mass destruction, automated cyber attacks, or systems that evade human oversight. Another final example would be accessing tools designed for offensive cyber operations.

Under this bill, if a Chinese firm would like to rent access to a cluster of advanced chips already subject to U.S. control in an overseas data center, the Department of Commerce can require a license if determined that remote access is a risk to U.S. national security.

Put simply, if the U.S. has the authority to prohibit the export of a critical U.S. technology, then the remote access to that same technology should also be subject to control.

As mentioned, this bill was unanimously supported in committee, and I hope and expect unanimous support here on the House floor.

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