FIREWALL Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9541 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9541

 To prohibit certain Federal funds from being provided to individuals
and entities that purchase fiber-optic cable from countries of concern,
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 2026

Mr. Bilirakis (for himself and Mr. Soto) introduced the following bill;
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To prohibit certain Federal funds from being provided to individuals
and entities that purchase fiber-optic cable from countries of concern,
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Investment Restrictions on
Equipment from Worrisome Authoritarian Linked Locations Act'' or the
``FIREWALL Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PROVIDING CERTAIN FEDERAL FUNDS TO INDIVIDUALS
              AND ENTITIES THAT PURCHASE FIBER-OPTIC CABLE FROM
              COUNTRIES OF CONCERN.

    (a) Prohibition.--No Federal funds provided through any program,
project, or activity administered by the Federal Communications
Commission or the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration may be provided to an individual or entity that
purchases fiber-optic cable from a company that is owned, in whole or
in part, by--
            (1) a country of concern;
            (2) an official of a country of concern government,
        including in an individual capacity; or
            (3) an individual, business, or agency under significant
        control of such country of concern.
    (b) Application.--Subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the
purchase of fiber-optic cable on or after the date that is 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Definition.--In this Act:
            (1) Country of concern.--The term ``country of concern''
        has the meaning given the term ``covered nation'' in section
        4872(f) of title 10, United States Code.
            (2) Fiber-optic cable.--The term ``fiber-opic cable''
        includes solid-core fiber and hollow core fiber.
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