[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 125 (Thursday, July 30, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4357-S4359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3101

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to ask unanimous 
consent to pass the SAFE KIDS Act. I want to thank my colleagues who 
have joined me in this effort as cosponsors: Senators Lee, Blackburn, 
Banks, Sullivan, Ricketts, Lummis, Budd, Rounds, Kennedy, Moody, and 
Sheehy.
  This bill is real simple. It is about protecting the integrity of 
American citizenship. It is also about our protecting children from 
exploitation and trafficking, and it is about closing a dangerous 
loophole that our foreign adversaries are using to undermine our 
national security right now.
  To be an American citizen is one of the greatest privileges in the 
world. It is a sacred covenant between an individual and our Nation. It 
comes with rights, privileges, and immunities that people around the 
world would do anything to have. It also comes with the responsibility 
to protect and defend those liberties for future generations.
  Right now, our Nation is vulnerable because foreign adversaries have 
found a backdoor around our immigration laws. Right now, citizens of 
foreign adversarial nations can have children born on American soil and 
as citizens through surrogacy. They actually never have to come into 
our country. Think about how insane this is.
  Under the current system, a foreign adversary could arrange a 
surrogacy contract to have a child born in America and be given all the 
privileges of being counted as one of us. Then they can take that child 
back to their home country and raise that child under the influence of 
a regime that hates America. It is getting all the perks of American 
citizenship without any responsibility. It is taking a future voter and 
raising them in a country that wants to destroy our way of life. We 
can't let that happen.
  Think about the Ayatollah in Iran. He could arrange a contract with 
an American surrogate. The child could get American citizenship at 
birth, be taken back to Iran, and be raised by a regime that chants 
``Death to America.'' Then, years later, that child could come back to 
the United States as an American citizen.
  That is not some farfetched, science fiction scenario; it is exactly 
the kind of vulnerability our foreign adversaries look for. The Chinese 
Communist Party has already demonstrated that it will exploit every 
weakness in our laws and institutions to advance its interest. Recent 
reporting has exposed disturbing examples of wealthy Chinese nationals 
exploiting American surrogacy arrangements to father more than 100 
children born in the United States.
  We should be asking: What happens to these children? Who raises them? 
What are they taught. What country are they taught to love? And what 
happens when they are old enough to return to the United States? Could 
they attend our universities? Could they serve in our military? Could 
they receive security clearances? Could they run for President? These 
are real questions and a real vulnerability we face if we don't act 
today.
  We should not be creating a pipeline through which foreign 
adversaries can exploit American citizenship, raise American citizens 
under hostile, foreign influence, and potentially bring them back into 
our country as Americans.
  But this is about more than national security; it is about children. 
We have already seen the heartbreaking consequences when an 
international surrogacy arrangement goes wrong. I have seen it right 
here in my own State.
  A recent dispute in St. Augustine, FL--it is hard to believe--
involving a surrogate mother fighting for paternal rights demonstrates 
the devastating legal and emotional consequences when kids are treated 
like this. Kyla Simpson had triplets almost 2 years ago. Now she is 
fighting her way through court for custody of them because the Chinese 
national on the surrogacy contract didn't show up.
  Let me make sure I tell you how this bill works, what it does and 
doesn't do. It doesn't ban surrogacy. It doesn't ban IVF. It doesn't 
take away women's rights. It doesn't interfere with Americans who use 
surrogacy or IVF to build their families. These are all separate 
debates. This bill is very narrow. It is focused on commercial 
surrogacy arrangements involving our country's most dangerous foreign 
enemies. This is about preventing hostile foreign regimes from 
exploiting legal loopholes to obtain American-born children.
  My SAFE KIDS Act would do two simple things: It would invalidate 
commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign 
adversaries, including China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Second, it 
would create a misdemeanor penalty for any broker who knowingly 
facilitates one of these prohibited arrangements. The way surrogacy 
works, there are groups that organize surrogacy contracts.
  I cannot imagine why any Senator would oppose closing this loophole. 
Every Senator in this Chamber should be alarmed that this is currently 
possible under our laws. We should not wait for communist China, Iran, 
Russia, or North Korea to further exploit the vulnerability before we 
close it.
  American citizenship cannot be bought. American children are not 
commodities. You do not need to be born here to be an American, but you 
do have to love what we have built. And we should never allow our 
foreign adversaries to turn our laws into weapons against the American 
people.
  I urge my colleagues to support the SAFE KIDS Act.
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule 
XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be 
discharged from further consideration of S. 3101 and the Senate proceed 
to the immediate consideration. Further, I ask that the bill be read a 
third time and passed

[[Page S4358]]

and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I have been 
in the House and the Senate for quite a while. I have written a lot of 
bills and amendments. I have read even more.
  I am absolutely confounded by the language of this proposal, S. 3101, 
by my friend and colleague from Florida. There are so many issues 
bouncing around in this proposal of a serious nature that we would be 
foolish to do this by voice vote here immediately in the Senate. This 
deserves a real hearing, a real investigation, because it involves a 
lot of elements that affect many people personally, many families 
personally. We are talking about reproductive rights. We are talking 
about personal freedom.

  I don't have a medical license. Some of my colleagues like to 
practice medicine on the floor of the Senate. I tend to listen to the 
experts on the subject. But I want to put this in perspective, if I 
can, for a moment.
  At issue here is the issue of surrogacy. How do I explain that in a 
few words as a layman? It is basically a person who says: This may not 
be a fertilized fetus that I have been responsible for creating, but I 
am willing to allow my body to have this fetus during the gestational 
period until its birth.
  That is the surrogacy involved in it.
  Let's put this into perspective for a moment, if we can. How many 
live births are there in the United States each year? There are 3.6 
million.
  First, let's go in vitro fertilization because that is part of this 
conversation too. How many in vitro fertilization births are there out 
of the 3.6 million births in this country? There were 100,000--2.6 
percent--in 2023 that were in vitro fertilization
  Surrogacy. How many gestational surrogacy births in the United States 
are there each year? I would ask the Senator from Florida. He may know, 
but I will tell him. It is somewhere between 5- and 6,000. It is a 
fraction of a percentage.
  Now, involved in this debate is the belief by some that we should 
allow no surrogacy. I am not one of those people.
  Let me tell you a story of a family I know. Husband--father and 
mother decided they wanted to have a family. They went to great lengths 
through IVF so that she could become pregnant. It was a tragedy to them 
personally when they lost the baby late in the pregnancy. She was 
crushed.
  Her sister, who is a medical doctor, said: It appears you have some 
problems with delivering a child. Let me suggest to you that if you go 
through IVF, I will be the surrogate mother and carry the baby for you 
and your husband.
  They agreed. She went forward with it. And wouldn't you know, shortly 
afterward, the IVF worked for the original mother, and she became 
pregnant as well. So sisters were pregnant by the same father and 
mother in this situation. It was an act of kindness and courage on the 
part of her sister to help them out. If you saw them in the park today 
with their little boy and little girl, you wouldn't pick them out of a 
crowd, but through IVF and through surrogacy, they have a family that 
they dreamed of.
  I think that is the right thing to do--legally and morally the right 
thing to do. Surrogacy has its place. It is an exceptional procedure. 
When there are 5- or 6,000 a year in America, it is certainly not one 
that really can be argued is part of any large conspiracy.
  But there are actually--we have had hearings in the Judiciary 
Committee--there are actually Republicans who believe--listen to this; 
it sounds preposterous--they believe there is some kind of effort in a 
nation like China to have babies born in the United States and then 
bring them back to China and prepare them to come back to the United 
States someday to undermine our government or something. We have had 
hearings on that. When you ask them ``How can you prove what you just 
said?'' they have no evidence. But it is a conspiracy theory, and it is 
part of the calculation behind this amendment.
  This bill is purportedly about protecting our national security from 
foreign adversaries and protecting children from exploitation and 
trafficking. If you want to introduce a bill to deal with trafficking 
or exploitation of children or others, count me in, but this bill goes 
so much further.
  The Senator from Florida pointed out at one point a horrifying story 
of more than 20 children birthed by surrogate mothers. In one case, 
they were found abused and neglected in a home outside of Los Angeles.
  I am not in favor of those abuses. I join him in stopping human 
trafficking. But this bill would not stop child abuse or trafficking. 
It would not prevent espionage by foreign adversaries. This bill will 
do nothing to prevent the situation that I just described in Los 
Angeles.
  Instead of targeting bad actors, this bill would restrict who can 
access or enter into surrogacy contracts based solely on the 
nationality of the parties involved. This bill is not only grounded in 
an objection to birthright citizenship but in some sort of a weird, 
unusual, national security theory that goes behind this.
  For the record, the Supreme Court has decided on birthright 
citizenship. And for the record, the 14th Amendment is as clear as can 
be: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to 
the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. The Supreme 
Court did not take long to agree with that, and I think that is part of 
the objection that is behind this amendment--the objection to that 
Supreme Court decision.
  Instead of targeting bad actors, this bill would restrict who can 
access or enter into surrogacy contracts based solely on the 
nationality of the parties involved.
  This bill voids all surrogacy agreements between a surrogate parent 
who is inside the United States at the time of the birth or who is a 
U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and a prospective parent who 
is a national or resident of certain countries.
  The bill criminalizes assisting with making or executing such a 
surrogacy agreement in any way.
  The bill's plan would impact all surrogacy agreements with nationals 
from Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea. It does not allow for 
consideration of how long these parties have been in the United States 
or the nature of the surrogacy agreement. For example, it would prevent 
an Iranian asylum seeker and her spouse from starting a family.
  After the U.S. Supreme Court decision holding birthright citizenship 
as the law of the land, this bill reads like the latest MAGA conspiracy 
attempt to achieve what they were unable to achieve in the Supreme 
Court--ending birthright citizenship.
  State lawmakers from Florida and Texas are using similar legislation 
to chip away at access to reproductive rights. There was a controversy, 
and you may remember it, as to whether or not in vitro fertilization is 
consistent with MAGA principles. They ultimately announced that it was, 
that IVF was fine, but that just shows you that they have run into a 
number of cases already where the principles do not bear out the 
reality of life in America.
  Some are pushing to ban surrogacy altogether. The case I gave you is 
a good illustration in my mind of why we shouldn't do that.
  They argue that the surrogacy agreement amounts to slavery and 
violated the 13th Amendment, a preposterous argument. Voiding and 
criminalizing surrogacy agreements with nationals from certain 
countries looks like the first step in a broader troubling plan to 
restrict surrogacy.
  Countless couples, families, and individuals facing fertility 
challenges rely on access to surrogacy and other reproductive services 
to have children.
  Most people seeking surrogacy in the United States are Americans. 
Some are foreign nationals who reside in the United States; others are 
foreigners who are turning to surrogacy in the United States because of 
limited access in their home countries.
  I support thoughtful efforts to ensure that access to surrogacy in 
the United States is not exploited by those seeking to abuse our laws. 
This bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee on which I serve 
and am ranking member.
  I would be happy to work with the Senator from Florida on the complex 
issues that he raises with the amendment. We won't agree on everything,

[[Page S4359]]

but we certainly would agree when we talk about exploitation and human 
trafficking.
  This bill does nothing to address those two issues, which are a major 
concern for me as well as the sponsor.
  I hope we can work together to come up with something meaningful in 
the weeks ahead, and for that reason, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, so first off, I appreciate the 
comments from my colleague from Illinois. I look forward to working 
with him to try to solve this.
  Let's remember what this is about. This is not about IVF. IVF has 
been a very positive experience for my family. It doesn't impact a 
surrogacy for an American citizen.
  Actually, surrogacy has impacted my family and friends, so those are 
important opportunities for Americans to have children.
  What this bill says, though, is if you are a national from people 
that want to destroy our way of life, you could be Xi in China, you 
could be Putin in Russia, you could be Kim Jong Un in North Korea, you 
could be the Ayatollah, you will not have the right to have a child in 
this country by surrogacy. They don't even have to show up in this 
country, and they could have a child. Why would they do that when they 
could do it in their own country? It doesn't make any sense to me.
  So this is a problem. We need to resolve it. It has been a problem in 
this country. It has been a problem in my home State, and I look 
forward to working with my colleague from Illinois to solve it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.