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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing titled, “Bureau of Industry and Security FY26 Budget: Export Controls and the AI Arms Race.”

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-Remarks-

Today’s hearing will examine the fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Bureau of Industry and Security, an agency whose mission is critical to ensuring America wins the AI arms race against the Communist Party of China.

We are at a historic inflection point. Technologies that will define the 21st century, such as AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing are achieving breakthroughs that increasingly sound more like science fiction, than the reality that we’re used to. These technologies have a potential to unlock tremendous economic prosperity, medical innovations, and human flourishing.

However, they are not just drivers of economic growth. They are instruments of military power and security as well. Advanced AI models could coordinate fleets of self-driving cars in Michigan. They could also direct autonomous drone swarms over the Taiwan Strait. The nation that leads in developing and deploying these technologies has an opportunity to gain geopolitical advantages for decades to come.

The CCP understands this. That’s why it’s trying to dominate these critical technologies by any means necessary through state subsidies, forced tech transfers, economic espionage, chip smuggling, and exploiting access to the West’s most innovative AI labs and universities.

AI dominance is central to the CCP’s goals. Its military modernization efforts, surveillance state, and human rights abuses are amplified by AI. Export controls play a crucial role in ensuring that US and allied technologies are not used to fuel the CCP’s pursuit of global dominance. Amongst its many important roles, BIS serves as a guardian of one of the world’s most valuable and powerful supply chains. The ecosystem of advanced chips, tools, components, and design software that underpins the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

China’s leading AI companies have made it clear just how dependent their future is on US technology. In response to a question on what their biggest obstacle to AI development is Deepeek’s CEO put it bluntly, “bans on shipments of advanced chips are the problem.”

The CCP understands the importance of these AI choke points. That’s why it’s working around the clock to steal chips and exploit export control loopholes to internalize its production. That’s why this hearing today is so important.

BIS’ fiscal 26 budget request includes a 133% increase in enforcement funding. A bold and necessary step. As the deep CEO made evident, it’s not a lack of talent holding back China’s AI development. It’s the lack of access to US technology. That’s what this budget supports. It allows BIS to better disrupt covert efforts to funnel US innovation to the CCP’s military and surveillance state.

So, let’s be very clear, enforcement is not about punishing innovation. It’s about protecting it. It’s about making sure that the technologies that define the future are not weaponized against our values, our alliances or our own people.

We also recognize that BIS operates in a dynamic and challenging environment. The technologies we’re discussing are evolving rapid rapidly. BIS must become faster, more adaptive and uh and more technologically capable than ever before.

This subcommittee is committed to giving the bureau the tools and resources it needs to meet that challenge head on. The geopolitical struggle between America and China defines the technologies of our time. Global AI development shaped by democratic values or authoritarian control will depend on the decisions we make right now about licensing, enforcement, and strategic technology protection.

I’m pleased that we are joined by Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler, who leads BIS during this decisive period in history. Mr. Kessler, thank you for your service and your appearance here at the subcommittee. The window for preserving America’s technology edge is narrow, but it does remain open. BIS with the support of Congress, must ensure America wins the AI arms race.

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