U.S. funds quantum research with allied nations, barring China.
S. 1397 — International Quantum Research Exchange Act · Filed by Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 9, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of State to create a federal program awarding matching grants to universities and nonprofits for international collaborative research in quantum computing and information science, and to fund scientist exchange programs. Funding is limited to countries that have signed quantum cooperation agreements with the U.S. or are members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, and explicitly excludes foreign adversaries. The program is authorized at $20 million annually for fiscal year 2026 and sunsets after 10 years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a federal grant program for quantum research collaboration with allied nations, structured as a strategic investment in emerging technology rather than a regulatory or appropriations measure.
What the text implies
- The restriction to Five Eyes countries and quantum-cooperation-agreement signatories may effectively concentrate research partnerships with a small set of allied nations (primarily UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand), potentially limiting scientific diversity and excluding non-aligned but capable research institutions.
- The bill's reliance on the Secretary of State (rather than NSF or DOE) as the administering agency may slow grant processing and introduce diplomatic considerations into scientific merit review, potentially affecting research priorities.
- Annual reporting requirements and congressional consultation obligations create transparency but may also expose research directions and international partnerships to public scrutiny, which could complicate sensitive collaborations.
- The 10-year sunset clause requires reauthorization, creating periodic legislative uncertainty for long-term research commitments and potentially disrupting multi-year international collaborations if renewal is delayed or denied.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds scientific research and international collaboration in a strategically important field (quantum computing) through transparent, competitive grants to U.S. institutions, with built-in security guardrails and congressional oversight. Citizens benefit from advancement in a critical technology domain and the economic/security returns that flow from it, with no apparent private carve-outs or restrictions on public remedies.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. institutions of higher education
- U.S. nonprofit research organizations
- Quantum information science research consortia
Named in the bill
Secretary of State, Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Quantum Coordination Office, National Science and Technology Council, Five Eyes alliance, National Quantum Initiative Act, Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act, National Security Presidential Memorandum–33
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Apr 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 9, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations”
- Jun 5, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $40,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Jeanne Shaheen, the sponsor, reported $-12,050 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Bluefors Inc. — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 10, 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 bill text published by Congress.gov (4,625 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; 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 Jun 2026 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 10, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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