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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

Legislation would outlaw discriminatory practices against both LGBTQ+ children and adopters

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep Judy Chu (CA-28) along with Reps. Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Angie Craig (MN-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), introduced legislation to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ couples looking to adopt and protect LGBTQ+ children in the foster care system. 

The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act would prohibit discrimination by federally funded child welfare agencies against individuals and couples on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or marital status. The bill would also improve the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ children involved with federally funded child welfare services by establishing a National Resource Center for LGBTQ+ youth and by banning harmful practices like conversion therapy. 

“Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home. This bill protects children in foster care by expanding the number of foster and adoptive families available to them and ensuring that no child or family is discriminated against or turned away because of who they are or how they pray,” said Rep. Chu. “The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is a critical step toward creating a foster care system that truly protects and supports all children.”

“Government has a unique responsibility to ensure that each and every child in foster care finds a loving, affirming family,” said Rep. Davis.  “I am proud to co-lead the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act that increases the number of foster and adoptive homes available to all children in foster care and that helps neglected and abused children find the caring relationship they need to heal and thrive.”

“As an LGBTQ+ adoptive parent and a mother who had to fight in court to adopt my son, I have witnessed firsthand the widespread discrimination in our country’s adoption and foster care systems,” said Rep. Craig. “No state should allow discrimination against LGBTQ+ foster children or adoptive parents who can provide a safe and loving home. I’m proud to help carry on the late John Lewis’ legacy through this critical legislation we crafted together to ensure that LGBTQ+ adoptive parents and children are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

“The safety and wellbeing of our children in care should always be our key priority,” said Rep. Moore. “This legislation reaffirms this principle and ensures that discrimination doesn’t prevent a child finding a loving and permanent home while providing important protections for LGBTQ youth in care. I am honored to lead this effort with my colleagues to lift up the needs of our most vulnerable children.” 

“Every child deserves a safe, loving household, and it is absolutely unacceptable that so many children are denied this access because of antiquated laws and deliberate discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This legislation will ensure that taxpayer-funded adoption services and foster care providers cannot engage in discrimination against children or potential parents, solidifying protections for some of our most vulnerable children. I’m proud to introduce this legislation, and I will fight to get it passed.”

Same-sex couples are 10 times as likely to become foster parents and seven times as likely to pursue adoption than different-sex couples, according to a 2024 report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. However, fourteen states currently allow child welfare agencies to turn away qualified foster and adoptive parents on the basis of their sexual identity or gender orientation, even though hundreds of thousands of children in the American foster care system need a loving home. Oklahoma, for instance, passed a bill in 2018 allowing religious-based adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, single people, and non-Christians. Several other states have passed or are considering similar legislation. Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ children, who are overrepresented in the system and make up at least 30 percent of children in foster care, suffer greater rates of mistreatment and experience worse outcomes than their peers. The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act would outlaw discriminatory practices against both LGBTQ+ children and adopters.

“Children enter the child welfare system through no fault of their own, and our communities have a shared responsibility to ensure they are cared for with dignity and fairness,” said Darra Gordon, CEO of Family Equality. “This bill is a vital, practical step toward ending discriminatory barriers that prevent thousands of children from finding the safe, loving, and permanent homes they deserve. We thank Rep. Davis and Sen. Gillibrand for their leadership and urge Congress to act swiftly.”

“Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ children, youth and parents has no place in child welfare services,” said Linda Spears, President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America. “Such discrimination too often adds to the stress and trauma in the lives of children, especially for those children and youth in foster care who may not have the stable and loving family they deserve. To ensure that all children and youth in care have the quality care they deserve, we must have the broadest possible pool of foster and adoptive families. We can accomplish this by identifying and assessing applicants on the basis of their ability to successfully parent a child and work with diverse family dynamics, not on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation. CWLA is proud to endorse the Every Child Deserves a Family Act and applauds Senator Gillibrand and Representative Danny Davis for the introduction and support of this important legislation.”

“Every child deserves a safe, loving, and affirming home. But too often, LGBTQ+ youth face unique challenges in the foster care system,” said David Stacy, Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Government Affairs. “When youth enter foster care, the State has a responsibility to place them with families that will support them—not exclude them because of who they are or who their caregivers are. That’s why we support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which ensures that agencies receiving federal funds cannot discriminate based on religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity”

“LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit children, parents, kin, and families have the right to free from discrimination and harm while involved with the child welfare system and to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Currey Cook, co-chair of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. “The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is an important step forward to ensure those rights are clear and explicit so children and families can expect and receive fair treatment by a system that too often harms rather than helps.”

“Having grown up and aged out of the foster care system, I know firsthand why this legislation is vital to reducing the number of children who linger in care without a place to call home,” said Schylar Baber, co-chair of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. “Too many children still lack foster families and end up in group homes or residential centers simply because there is nowhere else to place them. I was part of what is now called the generation that waits—removed at age six, denied adoption at age twelve because the prospective parent was an unmarried male, and told I was “unadoptable.” Instead of permanency, I endured years of instability and trauma caused by outdated policies and discrimination. Love eventually prevailed when I was adopted at age 25 by the same person who had been denied years earlier, but that was six years of a home I should never have been denied. We must remove barriers that exclude viable families, because every child deserves permanency, stability, and love.”

The full text of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is available here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) introduced the bipartisan Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act, legislation that would help ensure every K–12 student has access to mental health support at school.

School-based mental health professionals, including school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, play an essential role in supporting students’ well-being, academic achievement, and safety. Yet schools across the country are facing severe shortages of these professionals. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends a ratio of no more than 1 school psychologist for every 500 students, but the current national average is nearly 1 for every 1,400 students. In many low-income communities, the gap is even wider, leaving students without critical services.

The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act would strengthen the pipeline of school-based mental health professionals by creating new opportunities for schools to recruit, train, and retain qualified staff. Specifically, the bill would: 

• Establish a grant program to support partnerships between colleges or universities and low-income school districts to facilitate the training and placement of more mental health professionals in the underserved communities that need them most.
• Create a targeted student loan forgiveness program for mental health professionals who commit to working at least five years in a low-income school district.
• Require the Department of Education to study and identify regions across the country with shortages of school mental health professionals to help guide future investments.

“Every child deserves the chance to learn and feel supported, but that can become a challenge when schools lack the mental health professionals that students rely on,” said Rep. Chu. “As the only psychologist in Congress and a former educator, I know firsthand how essential these services are. This bill would close critical gaps by helping low-income school districts recruit and retain counselors, psychologists, and social workers. By strengthening the mental health workforce in our schools, we can improve student success, enhance school safety, and ensure the well-being of all our students.” 

“In every conversation I have across PA-1—from a guidance office in Bristol to a parent meeting in Quakertown—I hear the same urgent plea: our kids need more mental-health support in their schools,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick. “As Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, I’ve made expanding early, school-based care a top priority because the need is real and the consequences are serious. The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act builds the workforce, supports our educators, and ensures every child in our community, and nationwide, has reliable access to the mental-health support they need and deserve.”

“The National Association of School Psychologists is proud to endorse the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act, which will increase students’ access to highly qualified school psychologists and other school-based mental health professionals to ensure they have the support they need to thrive,” said Shawna Rader Kelly, President of the National Association of School Psychologists. “This legislation will help address pervasive workforce shortages that have limited students’ and families’ access to school-based mental and behavioral health supports at a time when these services are greatly needed. We appreciate Congresswoman Chu and Congressman Fitzpatrick for their continued leadership to address issues affecting children and youth, and support school psychologists throughout the United States.”

“The American Psychological Association applauds Representatives Chu and Fitzpatrick for introducing the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act that aims to address the longstanding shortages of mental health professionals, including school-psychologists, that continue nationwide,” said American Psychological Association CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD. “As the mental health needs of many of our nation’s youth persist, school-based mental health services are critical, including through a focus on prevention and early intervention. By ensuring a strong school-based mental health workforce is ready to address the well-being of all students, this bipartisan legislation will be key to these efforts.”

The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act is originally cosponsored by 26 House Members, including: Reps. Don Bacon, Shontel Brown, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Angie Craig, Madeleine Dean, Rosa DeLauro, Mark DeSaulnier, Dwight Evans, Jesús (Chuy) García, Josh Gottheimer, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Stephen Lynch, April McClain Delaney, Jennifer McClellan, Robert Menendez, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jimmy Panetta, Chellie Pingree, Delia Ramirez, Eric Sorensen, Darren Soto, Marilyn Strickland, Shri Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Jill Tokuda, and George Whitesides.

Click here to read the full bill text. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

LINCOLNSHIRE, IL – Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), Chair of the New Democrat Coalition and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement in response to a vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B:

“To be clear, today’s stunning, uninformed, and misguided ACIP decision was driven by politics and conspiracy theories, not medical science. It puts our children at risk, and it will have dire consequences for years to come. For more than three decades, the hepatitis B vaccine given at birth has protected countless newborns from a dangerous, lifelong disease. That safeguard is now being dismantled.

“The responsibility for this lies squarely with pusillanimous Senate Republicans who allowed Donald Trump to install a conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Under his leadership, a once-respected committee that relied on science to guide immunization recommendations has now been stacked with dunderheaded anti-vaccine activists driven by ideology instead of science-backed evidence.

“Conspiracy-riddled ideology should be nowhere near vaccine guidance. Congress has a responsibility to act. We must advance legislation that restores scientific integrity to vaccine policymaking and prevents ideological interference in decisions that impact children’s health.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

LINCOLNSHIRE — Following the release of a Public Defender audit that found widespread torture and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, condemns conditions cited in the report and calls for the removal of Itamar Ben Gvir as Israel’s National Security Minister:

“Israel’s Public Defender’s audit of the country’s prison system documents widespread hunger, untreated medical conditions, extreme overcrowding, and repeated violence against detainees in Israeli detention facilities. These findings are based on direct inspections conducted over two years across dozens of sites and describe conditions that fall well below Israel’s legal standards.

The conditions reported are unacceptable for any government and under any circumstances, but especially for a vital U.S. ally that has historically held itself to higher moral standards. 

“The October 7^th invasion by Hamas, and the multi-front war that followed, placed extraordinary demands on the system, but the root of the problems rest clearly with the leadership, specifically Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. Prison conditions deteriorated sharply under emergency authorities and sustained political direction that removed normal restraints on the system. Oversight mechanisms failed to halt that deterioration. That came as Ben Gvir publicly endorsed harsher treatment of detainees and treated the degradation of prison conditions as an achievement. 

“Ben Gvir’s conduct as National Security Minister has long been detrimental to Israel’s national interests and its international standing. He should never have been given authority over the prison system in the first place, and, given the findings in this audit, he should be removed from office immediately.

“The US-Israel relationship is based on shared values and shared interests. This audit is an official warning from within Israel’s own legal system. Failure to act on it threatens to undermine our nations’ bilateral relationship and Israel’s long-term security.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), members of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced the bipartisan Providing Distance Education for Foreign Institutions Act, a bill to ensure American students studying at universities abroad can continue to access federal student loans.  

“We need to help American students already weighed down by record-setting student debt and lift the barriers that stand in the way of accessing an international degree,” said Rep Schneider. “Students who pursue an international education gain skills that equip them to thrive in a global economy, and they deserve the same support they receive at home. Universities routinely offer a portion of their classes online in the US and abroad, but only students who study internationally are barred from receiving financial aid for such programs. This bill closes that gap.”
American students studying at institutions of higher education that participate in the Title IV loan program can finance full degrees abroad. However, the 400 international schools that participate in the loan program are currently prohibited from participating in Title IV if any part of their program is offered online. During the COVID-19 pandemic this prohibition was waived but has since gone back into effect, leaving American students at risk of losing their ability to finance their degrees as most colleges and universities have widened their courses to routinely offer programs online.

“Students studying abroad shouldn’t risk losing federal aid just because some of their coursework is remote. I thank Rep. Schneider for joining me on this bipartisan fix, and urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation,” said Rep. Smucker.

Due to this prohibition, schools are forced to make extreme and costly accommodations – offering in person programs only for American students using financial aid. Without amendment, these schools could completely opt out of participating in the Title IV loan program and American students will be left without a way to finance their degrees abroad.

“The International Education Council (IEC) applauds the introduction of The Providing Distance Education for Foreign institutions Act and commends Representatives Scheider and Smucker on the introduction of the bill.  The total online prohibition has shut the door on American students who need to finance their degree while physically attending campuses abroad.  American youth should be able to choose their location and program of study, given the high-quality-for-value and unique offerings at highly reputable international schools.  This measure will continue to allow those Americans to use their federal loan funds to help obtain that experience as the delivery of education evolves,” said IEC Executive Director Robert Moran.  “We are grateful to Representatives Smucker and Schneider for supporting American students and recognizing the need for this legislation.  American financial aid provides students with the ability to choose their institution. Participation by colleges and universities outside the United States in the Title IV Direct Loan program vastly expands opportunities for students who want to obtain their postsecondary education overseas. These opportunities provide students with a wealth of global awareness and diplomatic skillsets they bring home to the United States.”

You can find the bill text here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs — delivered the following remarks at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations hearing titled, “The Abduction of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation.”

Click to watch

Remarks as delivered:

I do want to thank you [Chairman Graham] and the Ranking Member Schatz for holding this important hearing and having us from the House who care about this issue deeply, and we’ve been following this for quite some time. You’re putting a spotlight on this, and I can’t say thank you enough.

And I agree with you [that] in these peace talks that are going on right now, Russia needs to understand these children must come home. They must be repatriated with their families.

We need an iron-clad security agreement, unlike the ’94 Budapest Agreement that didn’t have that. And as I passed the wartime supplemental in the House, passed by the Senate, Russia needs to pay for its own crimes in the REPO Act.

I met with Ukraine ambassador yesterday, who showed me video that Save Ukraine put together featuring these children and describing the Russian atrocities.

The Russian Federation has abducted at least 20,000 children — that we know of — and every expert I’ve talked to believes the real number is high, much higher than that.

They are also indoctrinating and militarizing Ukrainian children in the occupied territories — possibly up to a million.

According to the video, Russia has allocated 7 BILLION dollars in its 26–28 budget for a national project titled “youth and children,” — essentially, militarized youth organizations.

The ambassador told me, again, that one million children live in the occupied territories — vulnerable to brainwashing and abuse. And more than 43,000 have already enrolled in Russia’s paramilitary youth program.

… [I]n these territories, the textbooks spew false information and conspiracy theories about NATO and the free world.

All this is part of Russia’s effort to turn future generations against Ukraine, the United States, and Europe because, in their words, they are preparing for a large-scale war against NATO.

It will not end at Donbas and the land bridge to Crimea. We have to be clear eyed in these negotiations.

Some of these children’s parents have been threatened into giving up their kids.

[The kids] are shipped to Russia, stripped of their identities, tortured, forced to memorize propaganda, and told their country and their own families are “the enemy.”

Finally, many of them are sent to the frontlines of the Russian war itself. Imagine a child age 16 being sent to the frontlines to fight against their own homeland.

Mr. Chairman, in documentary “Children in the Fire” — I’d recommend everybody watch this — they show a child taken in a prison where adults use electrodes to shock them under their fingernails and genitals. And I hate to even say that in public, but it is so horrific.

No child should ever endure that kind of barbarism. To me, it’s good versus evil, and this is evil in its purest form.

And like the Chairman, I have met with a lot of these survivors. I’ve met with many of them who were sent to Russian camps, and they describe the forced indoctrination and the torture.

As a father of five, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, I can’t imagine any of my children being kidnapped and indoctrinated against the United States of America. Imagine how Americans would feel if that happened to them.

I’m thankful, Chairman Graham, for your leadership, calling attention to this important issue. And I agree that any peace plan must include the repatriation of these children. And it must include the iron-clad security agreement.

We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.

Unfortunately, the reporting I’m seeing out of Moscow shows Ukraine making concessions while Putin has made none. That is no surprise. I think he will drag this out.

He will continue his behavior — including the kidnapping and abuse of the children — until pressure is placed on him and he is forced to be stopped.

We must hold those responsible accountable and ensure this ends — not only for Ukraine’s sake, but for our own sake and for the world.

Russia’s attempt to re-engineer an entire generation is a battle plan. In their words, they are preparing children for war against NATO.

This is a national security imperative — and beyond that, it’s a moral imperative. This is a time — all of us on both sides of the aisle — for moral clarity, because history will judge us by what we do here and now. And it will judge us [by] how we respond today.

So again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this important hearing. I look forward to working with you and this committee.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

Bill was named and passed in memory of Mikaela Naylon, who courageously advocated for its passage during her fight with cancer

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) – co-chair and founder of the Childhood Cancer Caucus – spoke on the House floor in support of the passage of his bill, the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act. The legislation combines two critical initiatives — the original Give Kids A Chance Act and the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act — to spur drug development for pediatric rare diseases, improve outcomes for patients, and close gaps in pediatric drug research. It was named in honor of Mikaela Naylon, a young woman who courageously advocated for the bill’s passage throughout her fight with cancer.

Click to watch

Remarks as delivered:

As chairman of the childhood cancer caucus, I host a yearly childhood cancer summit. … It’s a time for pediatric cancer patients, survivors, and advocates to rally together around these precious children — the most precious thing we have — and to spread hope to them.

Each year, I meet a child who impacts me in a very strong way. And this year, I was blessed to get to know this beautiful, beautiful young woman by the name of Mikaela Naylon.

I could see in her eyes that she was at the height of her struggle with cancer. It took so much strength to come to the summit, but she believed she was meant to be there. She wanted her presence — and her voice — to help shape our policies and change our world for the better.

We got her into a joint clinical trial at M.D. Anderson and Texas Children’s, but unfortunately, it was too late. Three weeks after our summit, she had to be put on a ventilator, and she passed away.

As Congresswoman Dingell mentioned, we sent videos to her to remind her of how important she is. In her final moments on this earth, I reached out to her and told her that her story would not be forgotten and that her legacy would continue to help thousands of other children. I wanted her to know that her impact would outlive all of us.

So today, in her honor, the United States Congress will vote on the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids A Chance Act.

Sixteen years ago, I founded the Childhood Cancer Caucus because I saw that children with cancer didn’t have a voice here in Washington. We cared about adult treatments, but no one was paying attention to the precious children battling this heartbreaking disease. In fact, they called it “rare orphan diseases.”

Since then, we’ve made a change for the better – and today is proof of that. Put simply, this bill gives kids the same chance to beat cancer that adults already have.

Right now, thousands of successful drug combination therapies are being studied and developed for adults, but not for children. The Give Kids a Chance Act will change that. It authorizes the FDA to direct companies to study those same drugs and therapies in children as well.

It will also re-authorize my Creating Hope Act, which created a Pediatric Priority Review Voucher Program within the FDA. It was a first-ever market incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop childhood cancer treatments. … Since its inception in 2012, 63 vouchers have been awarded for treatments of at least 39 different rare pediatric diseases — 36 of which previously had no FDA-approved treatments. These diseases typically lead to death before a child can reach adulthood. But not anymore.

A dear friend of mine — Dr. Allison from MD Anderson in my home state of Texas — was able to use the voucher program to obtain FDA approval for a treatment called CAR-T immunotherapy. He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it, and this voucher program had everything to do with the FDA approval for it.

This breakthrough treatment could change everything, and it has changed everything — not just for kids with cancer, but also for adults.

This bill will keep the successful voucher program going for another five years — fueling more innovation, and more hope for children and families who desperately need it.

So I want to thank all of my friends on the Energy and Commerce Committee for … helping me get this done. But I also want to recognize the childhood cancer survivors who are in the gallery today. 

With 313 cosponsors, this bill has the most bipartisan support in Congress. And that’s because there’s nothing political about a child with cancer. There’s nothing more important than saving the lives of the next generation.

My prayers remain with Mikaela’s family, and we’re honored to have them here with us today: her mother, Kassandra, her father, Doug, [and] her brother Ayden. Thank you for sharing Mikaela’s beautiful story with us.

She represents all the children who have suffered with this heartbreaking disease. And after meeting with many of them over all these years, I can tell you these kids are tougher and more resilient than any adults I’ve ever seen — and they are my biggest inspiration. Many survive, but many don’t. And that needs to change. And losing these kids has been the hardest part of my career over 22 years. But today, I’m encouraged because Mikaela’s legacy and all of their legacies — all those who have died and survived this horrible disease — they will live on in this bill forever.

You know, Mr. Speaker, it’s rare in this place that you can pass a bill that will end up saving children’s lives. I can think of nothing more important.

So with that, I urge my colleagues to do right by our children and pass the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids A Chance Act without delay.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

AUSTIN, Texas – U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees — joined Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss the latest on the Trump administration’s strikes in the Caribbean and the latest on the efforts to secure peace in Ukraine.

Click to watch

Excerpts from the interview:

On Democrat lawmakers suggesting President Trump’s Caribbean strikes are illegal: “These orders that they’re talking about, in my judgment, are not illegal orders to follow. They are orders based upon Article II, self-defense, of the Constitution, to stop a threat — in this case the threat of drugs coming into your country and killing Americans. …

“There are no illegal orders to follow here. If an invasion does take place in, you know, down in Venezuela against Maduro … that would trigger a War Powers Act response by Congress. We would have 60 days, if the conflict is still ongoing, to determine whether a declaration of war is warranted or an authorized use of military force.”

On the current peace plan for Ukraine: “Let me say first, if Biden hadn’t let Afghanistan fall, we probably wouldn’t have been in this position in the first place [due to] the mishandling of the weapons going into Ukraine, as I talked about for the entirety of the Biden administration.

“Having said all that … we did have a conversation with the White House, the vice president, [and] Secretary of State Rubio last night. … Rubio did say on the call that this is a United States document with input from Ukraine and from Russia. About 80% of this deal, I think, they’re going to find agreement with as they go to Geneva. The problem is going to be the 20% of really tough items to negotiate.”

On the importance of ongoing negotiations: “I think there’s flexibility. I do know that Rubio said, within the next 72 hours we will know a great deal about whether this goes forward or not. I think Zelensky has stated … that he sees this as a vision, but not a done deal.

“So it should not be ‘take it or leave it.’ On all parties’ sides, except the Russians [whom] I haven’t talked to … this is an ongoing negotiation process. So, they’re really getting it started. The way the White House described it last night was, we had to start putting this pen to paper so we could get something accomplished. …

“It seems to me, Martha, that Zelensky is always willing to make concessions to get to an agreement, to get to yes, while Putin is the one that’s never willing to make concessions, even to this day. And so we’ll see where he comes in. I don’t know if he will accept this plan.”

On the necessity for security guarantees for Ukraine: “In [the] 1994 Budapest [Agreements], Ukraine gave up all its nuclear weapons in exchange for what? For nothing. And then Russia invaded. There was no security agreement. There were just simply assurances given by Bill Clinton. That cannot happen again. … [T]his is where Keith Kellogg did get involved to write a security agreement, which I hope is more ironclad, like an Article 5-like agreement. For without that, I would not advise Ukraine to sign this. They can’t sign an agreement like the Budapest [agreement] and then allow Russia to invade again.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Texas) questioned witnesses at a subcommittee hearing titled, “Export Control Loopholes: Chipmaking Tools and their Subcomponents.” McCaul, a congressional leader on semiconductor and high-tech issues, has long championed export controls on sensitive U.S. technology that could be used to bolster China’s military apparatus.

Click to watch

Excerpts from McCaul’s exchange with Chris McGuire, senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations:

McCaul: This is an issue I think is so important. I worked on this when I was a young federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice in 1996. [I] prosecuted the campaign finance violations from China, Johnny Chung, [which] led us to the director of Chinese intelligence [and] China Aerospace, putting money into his Hong Kong bank account to influence the presidential election.

And why? Because they wanted dual use satellite technology. They wanted to be a member of the WTO. They wanted China Aerospace to be the beneficiary of our technologies.

And since that time, they have come very, very long way. I introduced the Chips for America Act at the behest of Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Wilbur Ross in the first Trump administration to pull the manufacturing out of Taiwan, where 90% of the advanced production is made into the United States, so we can truly make America first in manufacturing of semiconductor chips. They got politicized unfortunately, but it’s working.

You know, DeepSeek is disturbing to me because we sold [the technology] to them. Nvidia … and it was legal, in their defense, at the time, sold the advanced chips that allowed China to make the first AI DeepSeek technology. [This] is now banned and would be illegal under current law.

But the damage is done. Now [China is] creating all these AI chips. In fact, in Open AI [models], I was told yesterday that China is actually ahead of the United States. So, in this great power competition, we have a lot of work to do. …

[China] can get around [export controls] real easy. On the entities list, you know you had Shanghai Biren. … Advanced AI chips [were] banned from [being sold to them]. Then they changed their name to Shanghai Biren Semiconductor Technology, and they get around [the export controls].

So, I’m working on legislation that would basically set a statutory standard that would ban any affiliate that is 50% or more owned by a blocked entity. Do you believe that would be helpful? And that would be at BIS in the Commerce Department, over which we have jurisdiction.

…

McGuire: Yeah, I completely agree. I think we need to do both. I mean certainly on the most advanced Chinese fabs, we certainly should make sure that they are blocked from all US allies’ tools and completely blacklisted. The fact that allies can backfill is problematic. But I think you’re completely right that the only controls that we know will work and given the importance of this, it is really important that we apply controls that we know work — and thank you for your leadership in this issue over the years — I think it mandates that we have expanded country-wide controls to make that we get everything that is actually going to help Chinese production. And the best way to do that from a definition’s perspective as the China Committee, I think, highlighted in their report, is just to do all 300-millimeter tools, all tools capable of 300-millimeter wafers, which would … There’s no way that you could make any advanced chips with any 200-millimeter wafer.

McCaul: That’s a great point. You know my view is [China steals] it at a very large scale, and we get that in our classified briefings, but we don’t have to sell it to them. I’m worried on the advanced chip level, the horse is out of the barn. The damage is done. They are building a very high-level [capacity of legacy] chips to counter our advanced [chips].

But I think to the chairman’s point, we’re now getting into the manufacturing process. I see no reason, first of all, that we should be selling AI military-grade technology chips to China. And then number two, [sell] any manufacturing tools that could be used to make AI military-grade technology. Just a quick response.

McGuire: Completely agree. I think we should really block the Chinese comprehensively from being able to buy, make, or rent access to U.S. AI chips, and Congress should definitely help across the board on all three of those. 

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