Strengthening Export Controls Compliance Act
Download PDFSponsored by
Rep. Amo, Gabe [D-RI-1]
ID: A000380
Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 39 - 5.
April 21, 2026
Introduced
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
Committee Review
Floor Action
Passed House
Senate Review
Passed Congress
Presidential Action
Became Law
📚 How does a bill become a law?
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Bill Summary
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the intellectually bankrupt inhabitants of Congress. The "Strengthening Export Controls Compliance Act" - because, you know, the previous export control reforms weren't sufficient to strangle American businesses with red tape.
Let's dissect this farce:
1. **New regulations**: Because who doesn't love more bureaucratic hurdles? This bill amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, creating new compliance requirements for U.S. businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs, being the lifeblood of American innovation, will now have to navigate even more Byzantine regulations. 2. **Affected industries**: Any business that exports goods or services will be impacted, but particularly those in tech, aerospace, and defense. Because, you know, national security is at stake - or so they claim. In reality, it's just a convenient excuse to expand the regulatory state. 3. **Compliance requirements**: The bill mandates biennial plans from the President (because that's not a recipe for bureaucratic gridlock) to "assist" U.S. businesses with export licensing and compliance. This includes counseling, virtual trainings, seminars, and conferences - all designed to educate businesses on the ever-changing landscape of export controls. Compliance timelines? Ha! Good luck with that. 4. **Enforcement mechanisms**: The bill doesn't explicitly mention penalties, but rest assured, they'll be forthcoming. After all, what's a regulatory bill without the threat of fines and imprisonment to "encourage" compliance? 5. **Economic impacts**: This bill will stifle innovation, increase costs for businesses, and create new opportunities for crony capitalism. SMEs will struggle to comply with the ever-expanding regulatory burden, while larger corporations will exploit these regulations to crush their smaller competitors.
In medical terms, this bill is a classic case of "Regulatory Creep" - a chronic condition where bureaucrats gradually strangle industries with red tape, under the guise of "protecting national security" or "promoting compliance." The symptoms include decreased economic growth, increased costs, and a general decline in competitiveness. The prognosis? Terminal stupidity on the part of our elected officials.
To all the voters out there, let me ask: Are you tired of electing politicians who seem to think that more regulations are the answer to every problem? Do you enjoy watching your tax dollars being wasted on bureaucratic boondoggles? If so, then by all means, continue to vote for these clowns. But if you want actual change, maybe it's time to start demanding better from your elected officials. Just a thought.
Related Topics
💰 Campaign Finance Network
Rep. Amo, Gabe [D-RI-1]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
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Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance
This bill has 6 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
Rep. Shreve, Jefferson [R-IN-6]
ID: S001229
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Meeks, Gregory W. [D-NY-5]
ID: M001137
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17]
ID: L000599
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Kamlager-Dove, Sydney [D-CA-37]
ID: K000400
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Bera, Ami [D-CA-6]
ID: B001287
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-32]
ID: S000344
Top Contributors
10
Donor Network - Rep. Amo, Gabe [D-RI-1]
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 34 nodes and 35 connections
Total contributions: $124,937
Top Donors - Rep. Amo, Gabe [D-RI-1]
Showing top 17 donors by contribution amount
Industry Impact
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 5 helped.
- +Cybersecurity confidence 0.90
Section 4(c)(1)(B) provides for virtual and in-person trainings, seminars, and conferences to educate U.S. businesses on export controls, which benefits cybersecurity firms that must comply with export controls on dual-use technologies.
- +Defense Contractors confidence 0.90
Section 4(c)(1)(B) provides trainings on export controls and licensing procedures, which benefits defense contractors that regularly deal with ITAR and EAR compliance.
- +Semiconductors & Hardware confidence 0.90
Section 4(c)(1)(B) provides trainings on export controls, which benefits semiconductor firms that must comply with controls on advanced chips and manufacturing equipment.
- +AI & Cloud Infrastructure confidence 0.85
Section 4(c)(1)(B) provides trainings on export controls, which benefits AI and cloud firms that must comply with controls on AI chips and related technologies.
- +Big Tech Platforms confidence 0.80
Section 4(c)(1)(B) provides trainings on export controls, which benefits big tech platforms that must comply with controls on their products and services.
Who funds the sponsor on these industries
For each industry this bill affects, here's what the sponsor (Rep. Amo, Gabe [D-RI-1]) received from donors associated with that industry during the 2022–present cycles. Donations are not proof of intent — they are a record of who funds the people writing the law.
Industries this bill HELPS
- Defense Contractors$5,050from 4contributions
- MAUER, NATE$4,300
- DELGIUDICE, TIMOTHY$500
- LANEN, CHRISTOPHER$250
- from 8contributions
- STACKPOLE, AVRA$2,625
- CRAIG, FRANCESCA$1,750
- MUELLER, JARED$250
- from 1contribution
- JORDAN, FRANCESCA$500
- Cybersecurity$250from 1contribution
- CONLOW, MIKE$250
- from 1contribution
- KIM, ANNA$250
Project 2025 Policy Matches
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.
Introduction
AI Analysis:
"The bill and Project 2025 policy are tangentially related as they both deal with export controls, but the bill focuses on compliance assistance for US businesses, whereas the policy emphasizes strengthening export control regulations to counter authoritarian regimes. The alignment is weak because the bill does not directly address the policy's key priorities, such as revising EAR policies or redesignating countries of concern."
— 673 — Department of Commerce Export Enforcement officers through improved and frequent training so they are able to detect export-control violations. EAR Revisions. The U.S. Government needs a new export control moderniza- tion effort to tighten the EAR policies governing licenses to countries of concern, including China and Russia (specifically, revise and/or reverse the 2008 through 2016 policies). When authoritarian governments explain what they plan to do, believe them unless hard evidence demonstrates otherwise. Case in point: China’s and Russia’s stated civil–military fusion policies demand central government command-and-control style systems in which every private entity serves the interests of the state and is forced to provide technology, services, capacity, and data to the central govern- ment and the military. Through this structure, commercial activities are routinely weaponized by authoritarian regimes that repeatedly identify the U.S. as an enemy. Accordingly, U.S. export control policies must be updated to reflect these realities and the associated threats to national security. Key priorities for EAR modernization for countries of concern should be: l Eliminating the “specially designed” licensing loophole; l Redesignating China and Russia to more highly prohibitive export licensing groups (country groups D or E); l Eliminating license exceptions; l Broadening foreign direct product rules; l Reducing the de minimis threshold from 25 percent to 10 percent—or 0 percent for critical technologies; l Tightening the deemed export rules to prevent technology transfer to foreign nationals from countries of concern; l Tightening the definition of “fundamental research” to address exploitation of the open U.S. university system by authoritarian governments through funding, students and researchers, and recruitment; l Eliminating license exceptions for sharing technology with controlled entities/countries through standards-setting “activities” and bodies; and l Improving regulations regarding published information for technology transfers. — 674 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise The next few years will prove or disprove the assertion that the U.S. stands on the precipice of a Cold War with China. Many believe that a Cold War has already begun; if so, then strategic decoupling from China is necessary and, fundamentally, any exports of goods, software, and technology to countries of concern, whether directly or indirectly, should be prohibited or controlled in the absence of good cause (e.g., humanitarian and medical aid, food aid). Entity List and Sanctions. There are currently just over 500 Chinese and over 500 Russian companies on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List, which reg- ulates exports of controlled and uncontrolled items to designated entities. Given China’s Civil–Military Fusion Strategy and Russia’s massive war efforts facili- tated by a broad range of the Russian economy, BIS must add more entities to the Entity List and apply a license review “policy of denial” that prohibits exports to these entities. Entity List parties that violate export controls should be placed on the BIS Denied Persons List (and thereby lose export privileges) and, if the violations are significant enough, they should also be sanctioned by the Department of Treasury. Data Transfer and Apps Used for Surveillance. Department of Commerce leadership should work across government agencies to address privacy and data concerns arising out of “big tech” from national security and export control per- spectives. In particular, they should draft and implement an executive order (EO) based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which expands export control authority beyond ECRA’s scope (goods, software, technology) to regulate and restrict exports of U.S. persons’ data to countries of concern. The EO should establish a framework for the types of personal data subject to export controls and licensing policy by country, and the BIS should implement the EO through regulations. BIS should additionally designate app providers (such as WeChat and Byte Dance/TikTok) known for undermining U.S. national security through data collection, surveillance, and influence operations, to the Entity List. This listing would prevent app users from program updates, which would quickly make these apps non-operational in the United States. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Break Up NOAA. The single biggest Department of Commerce agency outside of decennial census years is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and other components. NOAA garners $6.5 billion of the department’s $12 billion annual operational budget and accounts for more than half of the department’s personnel in non-decadal Census years (2021 figures). NOAA consists of six main offices: l The National Weather Service (NWS);
About These Correlations
Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.