Stopping the Spread of Taxpayer-Funded Bioweapons Act of 2022

Stopping the Spread of Taxpayer-Funded Bioweapons Act of 2022

This bill prohibits the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program from engaging in certain activities related to biological threats. (The program works with foreign countries to address the risks from weapons of mass destruction, including by securing such weapons and detecting the spread of especially dangerous pathogens.)

Specifically, the program may not engage in (1) cooperative biological engagement; or (2) activities for facilitating the detection and reporting of diseases that could be used as an early warning detection mechanism for outbreaks, regardless of whether such diseases are caused by biological weapons.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7125 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7125

To amend the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Act to 
 prevent the proliferation of biological weapons under the Cooperative 
           Threat Reduction Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2022

    Mrs. Greene of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Act to 
 prevent the proliferation of biological weapons under the Cooperative 
           Threat Reduction Program, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Stopping the Spread of Taxpayer-
Funded Bioweapons Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. PREVENTING THE PROLIFERATION OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UNDER THE 
              COOPERATIVE THREAT REDUCTION PROGRAM.

    (a) Prevention of the Proliferation of Biological Weapons.--
            (1) In general.--Section 1331(a) of the Department of 
        Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Act (50 U.S.C. 3731(a)) is 
        amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
            ``(6) Cooperative biological engagement.
            ``(7) Activities that facilitate the detection and 
        reporting of highly pathogenic diseases or other diseases that 
        are associated with or that could be used as an early warning 
        mechanism for disease outbreaks, regardless of whether such 
        diseases are caused by biological weapons.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Such Act (50 U.S.C. 3701 et 
        seq.) is further amended as follows:
                    (A) By striking ``, nuclear, or biological 
                weapons'' each place it appears and inserting ``or 
                nuclear weapons''.
                    (B) In section 1321--
                            (i) in subsection (a)--
                                    (I) in paragraph (1), by striking 
                                ``, biological,'';
                                    (II) by striking paragraph (4); and
                                    (III) by redesignating paragraphs 
                                (5) and (6) as paragraphs (4) and (5), 
                                respectively; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated, 
                        by striking ``, chemical, and biological'' and 
                        inserting ``and chemical''.
                    (C) In section 1344, by striking ``, nuclear, and 
                biological weapons'' and inserting ``and nuclear 
                weapons''.
    (b) Prohibition on Availability of Funds.--
            (1) Prohibition on availability of funds.--Notwithstanding 
        section 1681(a)(4) of the National Defense Authorization Act 
        for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81), none of the funds 
        authorized to be appropriated for the Cooperative Threat 
        Reduction program under the Department of Defense Cooperative 
        Threat Reduction Act (50 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) for fiscal year 
        2022 or any fiscal year thereafter may be obligated or expended 
        for cooperative biological engagement.
            (2) Rescission of funds.--Any unobligated funds available 
        for the Cooperative Threat Reduction program for cooperative 
        biological engagement as of the date of the enactment of this 
        Act are hereby rescinded and deposited into the general fund of 
        the Treasury.
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