Federal AI Ban: National Security or Vendor Protectionism?
H.R. 4142 — No Adversarial AI Act · Filed by John Moolenaar (R-MI) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 25, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the federal government to create and maintain a public list of artificial intelligence systems developed by foreign adversaries (like China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) within 60 days, and prohibits federal agencies from buying or using that AI within 90 days—unless they get a written exception approved by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress for research, testing, counterterrorism, or critical operations. The list updates every 180 days, and foreign companies can petition to be removed if they certify their AI isn't adversary-controlled.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to identify and exclude AI systems from foreign adversary nations in federal procurement and use. It is a supply-chain security measure, not a general AI regulation or innovation bill, despite the broad title.
What the text implies
- The 20% foreign ownership threshold for 'foreign adversary entity' classification may catch U.S. companies with minority foreign investment, creating compliance uncertainty and potential over-exclusion.
- The exception process (research, testing, counterintelligence, mission-critical) is discretionary and lacks clear standards, potentially allowing agencies to circumvent the ban or creating inconsistent enforcement across agencies.
- Federal agencies may face significant costs and delays replacing existing AI systems, which could degrade service delivery or force adoption of less-capable domestic alternatives.
- The bill does not address AI systems developed by U.S. companies but trained on or using data from foreign adversaries, leaving a potential loophole.
- Publication of the foreign adversary AI list may inadvertently signal to private companies which tools to avoid, creating de facto private-sector compliance without explicit regulation.
Who it affects
Citizens benefit from reduced risk that federal agencies use AI systems potentially compromised by hostile foreign governments, improving national security and government integrity. However, the bill may increase costs for federal agencies (passed to taxpayers), limit access to cutting-edge AI tools, and the vague exception process creates discretionary power that could be abused to favor certain vendors.
Who stands to gain
- U.S.-based AI and software companies (AMD, HPE, Cisco, Cognizant, Verisign)
- Domestic AI startups and vendors competing for federal contracts
- Cybersecurity and compliance consulting firms
Named in the bill
Federal Acquisition Security Council, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive agencies (all federal departments), Foreign adversaries (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea per 10 U.S.C. 4872), AMD, HPE, Cisco, Cognizant, Verisign, National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jun 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,595,758 in lobbying spend. A filing names 99 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
John Moolenaar, the sponsor, reported $595,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies — $1,005,758 on 2 filings
- Business Software Alliance — $320,000 on 1 filing
- Fdd Action — $240,000 on 1 filing
- Bsa the Software Alliance (formerly Bsa Business Software Alliance Inc) — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal AI Ban: National Security or Vendor Protectionism?” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr4142 Report an error
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