January 21, 2026 | Action Alert

Action Alert: Support AI Overwatch Act, Other Key National Security Bills at HFAC Markup

January 21, 2026 | Action Alert

Action Alert: Support AI Overwatch Act, Other Key National Security Bills at HFAC Markup

Bottom Line Up Front

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to mark up several important national security bills today. 

FDD Action urges Members to support:

  • TheAI OVERWATCH Act (H.R. 6875)–Led by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL), the bill would establish a process for Congress to oversee the exports of America’s sensitive, dual-use AI chips to adversaries like the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
  • The China AI Power Report Act (H.R. 6275) – Led by Reps. James Moylan (R-GU) and Eugene Vindman (D-VA), this bill directs the Secretary of Commerce to produce an annual, detailed assessment of the PRC’s AI power, laying the foundation for a data-driven export control policy and strategic oversight. It also shows Congress’s intent to treat AI as a critical domain of geopolitical competition, ensuring the U.S. maintains its technological and security advantage over China in emerging AI systems.
  • The Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act (H.R. 3307) – Led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), this bill deepens cooperation with Eastern Mediterranean countries to strengthen energy security, defense collaboration, and strategic ties within the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). This bill also establishes enhanced diplomatic dialogues and reporting on implementation and partnerships.

FDD Action supports these bills and encourages Members of Congress to vote “Yes” on them today at markup.

Lead Sponsors

FDD Action Expert Analysis

“America’s cutting-edge chips and advanced technology must never be used to power the AI systems that support China’s military and intelligence apparatuses, especially at the expense of American innovators. FDD Action endorses the AI OVERWATCH Act, because it gives Congress the ability to review proposed licenses to ensure chip sales protect U.S. national security while promoting innovation here at home.”

Connor Pfeiffer

– Connor Pfeiffer, Senior Director of Government Relations at FDD Action

“One of the chief drivers of instability in the Middle East and throughout Europe has been the dominance of Russia and Iran in energy markets. The IMEC pushes the region away from the authoritarian regimes in Moscow and Tehran and establishes an energy security grid that benefits all in the region and reduces the leverage of hostile countries. The Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act will solidify market alternatives to malign actors and promote more stable domestic energy production and supply chains.”

Tyler Stapleton

– Tyler Stapleton, Senior Director of Government Relations at FDD Action

AI Chip Security is Integral to U.S. National Security

  • America’s lead in advanced AI chips is critical to U.S. national security. As former Deputy National Security Advisor and FDD China Program Chair Matt Pottinger told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 14, “AI isn’t just a pivotal technology. It is the pivotal technology that will determine whether the United States and its allies, or an axis of totalitarian regimes, control the means to lead in virtually all technologies, military and commercial.”
  • Loosening export controls could significantly erode U.S. AI leadership. According to Chris McGuire, a former U.S. official who worked on AI policy, “The best U.S. AI chips are currently about five times more powerful than Huawei’s best offerings. By 2027, that gap will widen to seventeen times.” However, “if the United States exports three million H200 chips to China in 2026, it would give China more AI computing power than it could produce domestically until 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.” This would significantly advance China’s AI capabilities far beyond its own domestic manufacturing capacity.
  • Chinese tech founders have explicitly stated that limits on accessing computing power, not money or engineers, are the main brake on scaling and innovation. Chinese AI company DeepSeek relied on Nvidia A100-era capacity or rentals abroad for its flagship AI models. Domestic substitutes (e.g., Huawei Ascend) face lower memory bandwidth, weaker chip-to-chip links, and immature software, stretching training time and capping model size and reliability. At an AI conference in Beijing earlier this month, one of Alibaba’s AI leads, Lin Junyang, acknowledged that U.S. compute advantages may be “one to two orders of magnitude larger than ours.”
  • U.S. orders for advanced chips should come before China. The AI OVERWATCH Act would require the Department of Commerce to certify that licenses to export advanced AI chips to U.S. adversaries will not adversely impact the availability of those chips for U.S. customers. This is critical because advanced AI computing capacity is in high demand, and U.S. firms should not have to wait in line behind customers in countries of concern.
  • For decades, Congress has exercised oversight over the transfer of critical national security technologies. The AI OVERWATCH Act would apply the same oversight process used since 1976 for arms sales to export licenses for advanced AI chips. The Department of Commerce would be required to transmit proposed licenses to Congress for a 30-day review period, and Congress could block the license by enacting a joint resolution of disapproval within that window.

IMEC Energy Corridor Strengthens Regional Stability and U.S. National Security

The Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act would advance the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) by:

  • Builds on the growing IMEC: The U.S. along with partner nations in the Eastern Mediterranean—such as Greece, Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt—have built out an energy infrastructure pathway that will lower prices and increase economic prosperity in India, the Middle East, and in Europe.
  • Reducing dependence on traditional energy supplies: The bill would help to diversify energy flows in the region to safeguard supply chains and reduce dependence on authoritarian countries like Russia. The legislation would promote interconnected energy hubs to avoid market disruptions and ensure a consistent flow of energy throughout the corridor.
  • Supports U.S. national security and energy goals: The U.S. is continuing to build energy alternatives in the Mediterranean with partner countries committed to democracy, human rights, and security. Reliance on Russian and Iranian energy has long hindered democratic values and stability in the region. The bill would help solidify IMEC as the dominant energy vision for years to come.

Issues:

China Cyber