A Democratic amendment with no cosponsors
Changes S. 2296 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
Offered
Offered, and not voted on yet. Most amendments never get a vote: the Senate takes up the bill and moves on without them.
Its path through Congress
- Introduced
- Pending Consideration
What this amendment would do
This amendment, submitted by Mr. Gallego, aims to add a new section (SEC. 881) to the bill. Its purpose is to create a certification requirement for Department of Defense contractors who work with autonomy, computer vision, or machine learning models.
The amendment would require these contractors to certify the following:
- Whether any data used to develop, test, or fine-tune their AI systems came from or was processed by a Chinese military company.
- That they have enough documentation to prove where their training, testing, and evaluation data came from.
- That they have internal audits and controls to make sure they stay compliant.
The Secretary of Defense would be required to set up a standardized framework for these certifications, which must include a form signed by a senior executive, rules for subcontractors, and penalties for false certifications like fines or termination.
There are specific exceptions:
- Requirements do not apply if the Secretary of Defense decides using data from a Chinese military company is necessary for threat analysis, intelligence, or counterintelligence.
- The framework allows for waivers if they are essential to national security, provided congressional defense committees are notified within 15 days.
- 9/10/2025
- Senate amendment submitted
This bill has no cosponsors