[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 139 (Monday, September 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5077-H5078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMOTE ACCESS SECURITY ACT
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 8152) to amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to provide
for control of remote access of items, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 8152
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Remote Access Security
Act''.
SEC. 2. CONTROL OF REMOTE ACCESS OF ITEMS UNDER THE EXPORT
CONTROL REFORM ACT OF 2018.
The Export Control Reform Act of 2018 is amended--
(1) in section 1742 (50 U.S.C. 4801), by adding at the end
the following:
``(15) Remote access.--The term `remote access' means
access to an item that is subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States (without regard to the physical location of the
item) and included on the Commerce Control List set forth in
Supplement No. 1 to part 774 of the Export Administration
Regulations, by a foreign person through a network
connection, including the internet or a cloud computing
service, from a location other than where the item is
physically located, to use the functions of the item if the
use of those functions may pose a serious risk to the
national security or foreign policy of the United States,
such as by--
``(A) training an artificial intelligence model that
could--
``(i) substantially lower the barrier of entry for experts
or non-experts to design, synthesize, acquire, or use
chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons or
weapons of mass destruction;
``(ii) enable offensive cyber operations through automated
vulnerability discovery and exploitation against a wide range
of potential targets of cyber attacks; or
``(iii) permit the evasion of human control or oversight of
automated systems through means of deception or obfuscation;
or
``(B) accessing a quantum computer that could enable
offensive cyber operations or other risks to national
security; or
``(C) accessing hacking tools.'';
(2) in section 1752 (50 U.S.C. 4811)--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``or remote access''
after ``export''; and
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``or remote access''
after ``export''; and
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking
``and in-country transfer of items'' and inserting ``in-
country transfer, and remote access of items''; and
(ii) in subparagraph (A)--
(I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking
``release'' and inserting ``release or remote access'';
(II) in clause (iv), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a
semicolon;
(III) in clause (v), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; or''; and
(IV) by adding at the end the following:
``(vi) offensive cyber operations.'';
(3) in section 1753 (50 U.S.C. 4812)--
(A) in subsection (a)--
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(ii) in paragraph (2)(F), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) the remote access to--
``(A) items subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States (without regard to the physical location of the items)
that are determined by the President to warrant controls with
respect to access by foreign persons or countries of concern;
and
``(B) the functions of such items.'';
(B) in subsection (b)--
(i) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (7) as
paragraphs (4) through (8), respectively; and
(ii) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
``(3) regulate the remote access by foreign persons of
items as described in subsection (a)(3);''; and
(C) in subsection (c)--
(i) by striking ``or in-country transfer'' each place it
appears and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remote
access''; and
(ii) by striking ``subsections (b)(1) or (b)(2)'' and
inserting ``subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), or (b)(3)'';
(4) in section 1754 (50 U.S.C. 4813)--
(A) in subsection (a)--
(i) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and in-country
transfers'' and inserting ``in-country transfers, and remote
access'';
(ii) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and in-country
transfers'' and inserting ``in-country transfers, and remote
access'';
(iii) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and in-country
transfers'' and inserting ``in-country transfers, and remote
access'';
(iv) in paragraph (10), by striking ``or in-country
transferred'' and inserting ``in-country transferred, or
remotely accessed'';
(v) in paragraph (11), by adding at the end before the
semicolon the following: ``or remote access''; and
[[Page H5078]]
(vi) in paragraph (15), by adding at the end before ``;
and'' the following: ``or remotely access (including the
provision thereof)'';
(B) in subsection (b), by striking ``or in-country
transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remote
access''; and
(C) in subsection (d)(1), by amending subparagraph (A) to
read as follows:
``(A) the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of, or
remote access to, items described in paragraph (2), or remote
access to items described in section 1742(15), including, in
both cases, items that are not subject to control under this
part; and''.
(5) in section 1755(b)(2) (50 U.S.C. 4814(b)(2))--
(A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and in-country
transfers'' and inserting ``in-country transfers, and remote
access''; and
(B) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and in-country
transfers'' and inserting ``in-country transfers, and remote
access''; and
(6) in section 1756 (50 U.S.C. 4815)--
(A) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by striking ``and in-country transfer'' and inserting
``in-country transfer, and remote access''; and
(B) in subsection (b), by striking ``or in-country
transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remote
access'';
(7) in section 1757(a) (50 U.S.C. 4816(a)), by striking
``or in-country transfer'' and inserting ``in-country
transfer, or remote access''; and
(8) in section 1760 (50 U.S.C. 4819)--
(A) in subsection (a)(2)(F)(iii), by striking ``or in-
country transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, or
remote access'';
(B) in subsection (c)(1)(C), by striking ``or in-country
transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remotely
access (including the provision thereof)''; and
(C) in subsection (e)(1)(A)--
(i) in clause (i), by striking ``or in-country transfer
outside the United States any item'' and inserting ``in-
country transfer outside the United States any item, or
remotely access any item''; and
(ii) in clause (ii), by striking ``or in-country transfer''
and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remote access'';
(9) in section 1761 (50 U.S.C. 4820)--
(A) in subsection (a)(5), by striking ``or in-country
transferred'' and inserting ``in-country transferred, or
remotely accessed'';
(B) in subsection (d)(2), by striking ``export'' each place
it appears and inserting ``export control''; and
(C) in subsection (h)(1)(B), by striking ``or in-country
transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, or remotely
access''; and
(10) in section 1767 (50 U.S.C. 4825)--
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ``or reexport'' and
inserting ``reexport, or remote access''; and
(B) in subsection (b)(2)--
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and in-country
transfer'' and inserting ``in-country transfer, and remote
access''; and
(ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``or in-country
transferred'' and inserting ``in-country transferred, or
remotely accessed''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Kentucky (Mr. Barr) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.
General Leave
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8152, the Remote
Access Security Act.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Lawler), the author of the bill.
Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to urge the House to pass my
bill, the Remote Access Security Act.
The U.S. export control regime exists to limit American critical
technology and goods from falling into the hands of adversarial regimes
and those who answer to them. Export controls are immensely important
to ensure countries like China can't access U.S. advanced semi-
conductor chips to enhance their own chip development, which has
implications for their military capacity building, as well.
Unfortunately, there is a loophole in the current export control
regime. Chinese companies have been remotely accessing tech covered by
export controls, enabling the CCP to continue using U.S. chips to
develop AI and modernize their military forces.
This must end.
My bill allows the Commerce Department's export controls authority to
recover remote access of technology. That way, once my bill is signed
into law, all exports of chips, including through the cloud, will be
prohibited effectively closing the loophole.
The framework to combat China's growing tech developments already
exist, but it is imperative that Commerce has the tools to make this
effective.
I thank Chairman McCaul and all my Foreign Affairs Committee
colleagues for passing this bipartisan bill through committee, and I
thank the Speaker for bringing it to the floor today.
I urge all my colleagues to vote for this commonsense bill.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, over the past 3\1/2\ years, the Biden
administration has imposed unprecedented export controls against China
and Russia. These measures have been highly effective in restricting
Beijing and Moscow's access to critical U.S. technologies that could be
used to enhance their military capabilities. We know these controls are
working because both nations are now seeking ways to circumvent them
through various loopholes, diversion tactics, and deceptive practices.
One such loophole could involve PRC companies accessing U.S. chips
remotely. Right now, our export control laws do not explicitly cover
the remote access of controlled technologies through a network
connection, including the internet or cloud computing services. H.R.
8152 would close that loophole.
I thank the majority for working with me to reach a bipartisan
agreement on this bill. Since the markup, we have incorporated
additional feedback from the administration to appropriately scope the
bill and specify that offensive cyber operations against the United
States are another end use that our export controls should be
addressing.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to vote in favor of 8152, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 8152, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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