Overview

• Sen. Joni Ernst introduced the TRACKS Act, requiring full disclosure of U.S. taxpayer funds spent in adversarial nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
• The Accountability in Foreign Animal Research Act seeks to ban taxpayer funding of animal research in labs controlled by adversarial governments, including China.
• Investigations revealed $18 million in U.S. taxpayer funds allocated to Chinese projects, with $4 million concealed from public databases, sparking calls for reform.
• The Wuhan Institute of Virology and other Chinese institutions have previously received U.S. funding for controversial research, including gain-of-function studies.
• The proposed legislation aims to address longstanding concerns over hidden spending, national security risks, and ethical issues in foreign research funding.