On September 9, 2026, With Honor Action, alongside a coalition of 16 biotechnology and biomanufacturing organizations and leaders — sent letters to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology urging both committees to hold markups on bipartisan bills advancing recommendations from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB). With the Commission set to sunset at the end of the year, the letters call on Congress to signal that it intends to build on the Commission’s work rather than let the momentum lapse.
The Senate letter, addressed to Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), urges markups on four bills: the Biomanufacturing Excellence Act, the AI-Ready Bio-Data Standards Act, the Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act, and the Human Dignity and Emerging Technologies Act.
The House letter, addressed to Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), urges markups on seven bills: the National Biotechnology Initiative Act, the Bioindustrial Scale-Up for Supply Chains and Energy Resiliency Act, the Biomanufacturing Excellence Act, the Web of Biological Data Act, the Cloud LAB Act, the Biotechnology Workforce Alignment Act, and the Biotechnology for All High School Students Act.
The Honorable Ted Cruz, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate
Dear Chairman Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell:
We write as a coalition of organizations united in support of American leadership in biotechnology and biomanufacturing, urging the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to hold markups of several bipartisan biotechnology bills during the remaining time of the 119th Congress. Each of these bills advances recommendations from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) and falls within your committee’s jurisdiction.
As you know, the NSCEB was established to help Congress and the executive branch understand the national and economic security stakes of the rapidly evolving biotechnology innovation ecosystem, and to recommend a whole-of-government strategy to ensure the United States leads the bioeconomy of the future. Over the course of its work, the Commission built a substantial bipartisan, bicameral record and a slate of actionable recommendations spanning biomanufacturing capacity, data infrastructure, workforce development, and education. This includes 40 of the 49 recommendations that have seen bipartisan legislative action in either chamber, including 19 recommendations included in the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act alone.
The Commission is statutorily set to sunset at the end of this year, making this moment critical. While the window to translate the NSCEB’s recommendations into durable law will not be closed after the NSCEB sunsets, we need to ensure that the momentum behind implementing the Commission’s recommendations continues as we transition into the next Congress. Moving these bills through markup now would send a clear signal that Congress intends to build on the Commission’s work rather than let it lapse with the Commission itself.
We respectfully urge the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to schedule markups this fall on the following bills, each of which addresses a distinct, actionable recommendation from the NSCEB’s report:
● S. 3188, Biomanufacturing Excellence Act — Directs NIST to establish a National Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Center of Excellence to strengthen domestic biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.
● S. 4069, AI-Ready Bio-Data Standards Act — Directs NIST to develop standards and frameworks that make federally funded biological data usable for training AI models, ensuring the data underpinning the next generation of biotechnology breakthroughs is high-quality and interoperable.
● S. 3741, Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act — Requires the Department of Commerce to strengthen nucleic acid synthesis security screening and directs a governance review to consolidate fragmented federal biosecurity oversight, closing gaps that bad actors could otherwise exploit.
● S. 5130, Human Dignity and Emerging Technologies Act — Establishes a nonpartisan U.S. Commission on Human Dignity to advise Congress on the ethical and policy implications of emerging technologies, including AI and biotechnology, ensuring innovation policy is paired with careful ethical deliberation.
These bills all address the core pillars of the NSCEB’s action plan: scaling domestic biomanufacturing capacity and supply chain resilience, modernizing the data and computing infrastructure that underpins biotechnology innovation, safeguarding biosecurity, and building the skilled workforce and public understanding needed to sustain American leadership in the bioeconomy for decades to come. They enjoy broad, cross-sector support because they represent practical, bipartisan steps that strengthen U.S. competitiveness against China and other strategic competitors in a field that will shape both our economy and our national security.
We appreciate your committee’s continued attention to these issues and stand ready to provide any additional information that would be helpful as you consider scheduling these markups. Thank you for your leadership and your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
With Honor Action, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Applied Research Institute (ARI), AZBio, BEAM Circular, BioBuilder Educational Foundation, BioNJ, Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC), Georgia Life Sciences, Heartland BioWorks Regional Tech Hub, Indiana Life Sciences Association, KC BioHub, Ohio Life Sciences Association, Perimeter, Leash Bio, Ian Banks (Foundation for American Innovation), and Josh Wentzel (Foundation for American Innovation)
You can read the full text of the letter here.
The Honorable Brian Babin, Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, Ranking Member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives
Dear Chairman Babin and Ranking Member Lofgren:
We write as a coalition of organizations united in support of American leadership in biotechnology and biomanufacturing, urging the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to hold markups of several bipartisan biotechnology bills during the remaining time of the 119th Congress. Each of these bills advances recommendations from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) and falls within your committee’s jurisdiction.
As you know, the NSCEB was established to help Congress and the executive branch understand the national and economic security stakes of the rapidly evolving biotechnology innovation ecosystem, and to recommend a whole-of-government strategy to ensure the United States leads the bioeconomy of the future. Over the course of its work, the Commission built a substantial bipartisan, bicameral record and a slate of actionable recommendations spanning biomanufacturing capacity, data infrastructure, workforce development, and education. This includes 40 of the 49 recommendations that have seen bipartisan legislative action in either chamber, including 19 recommendations included in the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act alone.
The Commission is statutorily set to sunset at the end of this year, making this moment critical. While the window to translate the NSCEB’s recommendations into durable law will not be closed after the NSCEB sunsets, we need to ensure that the momentum behind implementing the Commission’s recommendations continues as we transition into the next Congress. Moving these bills through markup now would send a clear signal that Congress intends to build on the Commission’s work rather than let it lapse with the Commission itself.
We respectfully urge the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to schedule markups this Congress on the following bills, each of which addresses a distinct, actionable recommendation from the NSCEB’s report:
● H.R. 2756, National Biotechnology Initiative Act — Establishes a National Biotechnology Coordination Office and interagency committee to align federal biotechnology activities across agencies, reducing duplication and ensuring the government pursues a coherent, whole-of-government biotechnology strategy.
● H.R. 7936, Bioindustrial Scale-Up for Supply Chains and Energy Resiliency Act — Directs the Department of Energy to establish at least two bioindustrial technology maturation facilities so companies can prove their biomanufacturing processes at scale, closing the infrastructure gap that keeps American innovations from reaching commercial production.
● H.R. 6089, Biomanufacturing Excellence Act — Directs NIST to establish a National Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Center of Excellence to advance manufacturing methods, support regulatory alignment, and train the workforce needed to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign biopharmaceutical manufacturers.
● H.R. 9307, Web of Biological Data Act — Directs the Department of Energy to establish the Web of Biological Data, a centralized, secure, AI-ready resource that gives American researchers a single point of access to high-quality biological data funded by the federal government.
● H.R. 7801, Cloud LAB Act — Directs the National Science Foundation to establish a national network of automated ‘cloud labs,’ giving researchers anywhere in the country remote access to high-quality laboratory instrumentation to generate data and train AI models.
● H.R. 8938, Biotechnology Workforce Alignment Act — Directs the National Science Foundation to align federal biotechnology research investments with workforce development, helping close persistent talent shortages in biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, and computational biology.
● H.R. 8268, Biotechnology for All High School Students Act — Establishes a National Biotechnology Education Consortium to expand hands-on biotechnology education in high schools, prioritizing schools with limited resources, so the next generation is prepared for careers in this critical field.
These bills all address the core pillars of the NSCEB’s action plan: scaling domestic biomanufacturing capacity and supply chain resilience, modernizing the data and computing infrastructure that underpins biotechnology innovation, safeguarding biosecurity, and building the skilled workforce and public understanding needed to sustain American leadership in the bioeconomy for decades to come. They enjoy broad, cross-sector support because they represent practical, bipartisan steps that strengthen U.S. competitiveness against China and other strategic competitors in a field that will shape both our economy and our national security.
We appreciate your committee’s continued attention to these issues and stand ready to provide any additional information that would be helpful as you consider scheduling these markups. Thank you for your leadership and your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
With Honor Action, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Applied Research Institute (ARI), AZBio, BEAM Circular, BioBuilder Educational Foundation, BioNJ, Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC), Georgia Life Sciences, Heartland BioWorks Regional Tech Hub, Indiana Life Sciences Association, KC BioHub, Ohio Life Sciences Association, Perimeter, Leash Bio, Ian Banks (Foundation for American Innovation), and Josh Wentzel (Foundation for American Innovation)
You can read the full text of the letter here.