Joni Ernst: “I rise today to raise an alarming issue. The Chinese Communist Party is stealing sensitive intellectual property…”

“I rise today to raise an alarming issue. The Chinese Communist Party is stealing sensitive intellectual property developed using your tax dollars. We are all too familiar with the threat of Chinese espionage. It wasn't too long ago Iowans raised the alarm on Chinese nationals digging up our seeds and stealing our agriculture technology. Just last month, a Navy sailor was convicted after China paid him in exchange for highly classified data about Navy ships. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Loopholes in the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs, which helped develop critical technology supporting America's national security, are being exploited by China and other foreign adversaries to steal sensitive technology. Over 40 years ago, the SBIR Program was established as America's seed fund to serve as an innovation pipeline to support our warfighters and maintain a technological edge. While the program has seen its fair share of successes, we must be honest that how it currently operates is benefiting China at the expense of our warfighters. This summer, I released a report exposing that hundreds of millions of dollars of technology funded by your taxes through the Pentagon's SBIR Program are vulnerable to Chinese espionage. My report found that in 2023 and 2024, 835 applications for SBIR-STTR funding were flagged for having foreign risks, yet only 303 were denied for their ties to adversaries.”