Tech bills of the week: Limiting adversaries’ access to US tech; and boosting cyber apprenticeships

Expanding export controls on foreign adversaries

New legislation introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., on Monday looks to bolster the federal government’s export control regime on sensitive U.S. technologies to ensure that adversarial nations are not able to leverage the capabilities to further their own economic ambitions.

Wagner said the measure, the Export Control Enforcement and Enhancement Act, would modernize U.S. restrictions on accessing sensitive technologies and “streamline the ability of the Departments of State, Defense, and Energy to quickly modify the list of foreign entities—ranging from governments to companies and research institutions—that pose a serious risk to our national security.”

Foreign adversaries, like China, have used U.S.-made semiconductors to bolster the development of their own artificial intelligence capabilities. 

Wagner’s proposal would create a 30-day period for “proposed additions, removals, or other modifications” to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List so the government would “be able quickly address any efforts by our adversaries to cheat the system and obtain superior, American-made technology.”

Limiting bad actors’ access to chipmaking equipment

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress is also looking to tighten export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment through new legislation that would further limit the ability for China and other foreign adversaries to import the capabilities.

While the U.S. has already imposed significant restrictions on China’s access to semiconductors and related chip manufacturing components, Beijing has been able to skirt these measures by, in part, purchasing equipment from American allies or using shell companies.

The effort — introduced by Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., on Thursday, and soon to be introduced in the upper chamber by Sens. Pete Ricketts, R‑Neb., and Andy Kim, D‑N.J. — looks to close these loopholes by prohibiting the sale of essential semiconductor equipment “to any destination inside a country of concern.” 

The bill would also enhance restrictions on a series of specific Chinese companies, including Huawei, and require export controls to “apply uniformly” across the U.S. and its allies. If allied countries “cannot demonstrate progress” on enhancing their export restrictions within a 150-day deadline, the Commerce Department would be directed “to implement controls unilaterally.”

Baumgartner said the proposal, called the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware — or MATCH — Act, would “ensure that America and our allies move in lockstep to close these gaps, defend our technological edge, and safeguard the supply chains that power everything from our weapons systems to our critical infrastructure.”

Boosting cyber apprenticeships 

Bipartisan House legislation introduced on Tuesday would require the Labor Department to establish a grant program to boost Americans’ access to cybersecurity apprenticeship opportunities. 

The measure, led by Reps. Susie Lee, D-Nev., and Brian Fitzpatrick, D-Pa., looks to address talent gaps in the nation’s cybersecurity workforce, which the lawmakers said included over 500,000 current job vacancies. 

Their proposed grant program would be overseen by Labor and would “award competitive grants to businesses, industry and community-based organizations, workforce development boards, educational institutions, joint labor-management partnerships, and nonprofits to develop registered apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity.”

In a statement, Fitzpatrick said the bill “will provide the next generation of cybersecurity experts the opportunity to gain in-demand skills for high-paying jobs here in Pennsylvania and across the nation without the burden of student loan debt, while fortifying our critical infrastructure and safeguarding our data systems.”

Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also introduced a companion measure to the proposal — the Cyber Ready Workforce Act — in the upper chamber.