Manchin, Bipartisan Colleagues Introduce RESTRICT Act to Protect Americans Online, Defend National Security from Foreign Technology | U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia

March 07, 2023

“Over the past several years, foreign
adversaries of the United States have encroached on American markets through
technology products that steal sensitive location data and identifying
information of U.S. citizens, including social media platforms like TikTok. This
dangerous new internet infrastructure poses serious risks to our nation’s
economic and national security,” said Senator Manchin. “I’m proud to
introduce the bipartisan RESTRICT ACT, which will empower the Department
of Commerce to adopt a comprehensive approach to evaluating and mitigating
these threats posed by foreign technology products and investments. The
legislation would also fill a gap in our foreign investment review process while
weeding out the bad actors from the companies that simply want to invest in the
U.S. As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, I
will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this
critical legislation across the finish line.”

The legislation would:

• Codify and improve a set of rules that
  was created under the Trump Administration and expanded upon by the Biden
  Administration, whereby the Secretary of Commerce can review transactions
  involving information and communication technology products from
  adversarial nations.
• Require the Secretary of Commerce to
  establish procedures to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit and
  mitigate transactions involving information and communications technology
  products in which any foreign adversary has any interest and poses undue
  or unacceptable risk to national security;
• Prioritize evaluation of information
  communications and technology products used in critical infrastructure,
  integral to telecommunications products, or pertaining to a range of
  defined emerging, foundational, and disruptive technologies with serious
  national security implications;
• Empower the Secretary to impose
  mitigation measures – up to and including banning certain products – to
  protect the national security of the United States from threats posed by
  foreign technology.
• Educate the public and business
  community about the threat by requiring the Secretary of Commerce to
  coordinate with the Director of National Intelligence to provide
  declassified information on how transactions denied or otherwise mitigated
  posed undue or unacceptable risk.

Senator Manchin was joined by Senators Mark
Warner (D-VA), John Thune (R-SD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Deb Fischer (R-NE),
Jerry Moran (R-KS), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Mitt Romney
(R-UT).