Senate Farm Bill Defunds USDA Animal Labs in China, Russia, and Other Adversarial Nations in Response to White Coat Waste Investigations

The Senate’s newly released version of the 2026 Farm Bill includes White Coat Waste-backed language that prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture from funding animal research laboratories in China, Russia, and other adversarial nations.

The provision, led by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, appears as Section 7130 on page 495 of the bill and marks a major step toward protecting American taxpayers from subsidizing cruel and wasteful experiments in foreign laboratories.

American taxpayer dollars should never fund animal research in adversarial nations, including bizarre studies like cats-on-treadmills in Russia.

That’s why I fought to include a provision in the Senate Farm Bill to stop sending your tax dollars to Russia and China and instead… https://t.co/hstXtXCxji

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) June 24, 2026

Section 7130, titled “Limitation on certain research in countries of concern,” bars the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, from conducting or funding any research, education, or extension activities involving vertebrate animals in “the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, or any other foreign country of concern.”

The restriction applies to work done in those countries or in collaboration with them.

A narrow waiver will be available on a case-by-case basis only when necessary for national security, animal or crop health, or public health, safety, or welfare, but any waiver requires at least 30 days’ advance notification to congressional committees with detailed justification, including the location, collaborators, species of animals involved, costs, and duration.

This follows years of White Coat Waste investigations that uncovered shocking examples of USDA money flowing to dangerous animal experiments abroad.

One major investigation revealed that the USDA had launched a five-year, $1 million collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the parent organization of the Wuhan animal lab, to conduct gain-of-function experiments on bird flu viruses.

The goal was to enhance the viruses and test whether they could jump to mammals.

Records showed that young animals, including some just one day old, were infected and subjected to painful “severe” experiments without pain relief, often resulting in suffering and death.

After sustained pressure from White Coat Waste, bipartisan lawmakers, including Sen. Ernst and Rep. Ben Cline, and a yearlong campaign, the Trump administration’s Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, announced that the project was being canceled.

Another White Coat Waste investigation exposed USDA funding routed through U.S. universities to a Kremlin-linked institute in Russia.

Taxpayer dollars funded deadly experiments on silver foxes at a fur farm controlled by Russian authorities.

Between 2018 and 2020, the University of Illinois sent over $123,000 as part of a larger grant to study the foxes’ social behavior. The animals were ultimately killed and their brains dissected.

WATCH:

The House version of the Farm Bill, which passed in April, already included this same White Coat Waste-backed measure to cut funding for animal labs in adversarial nations.

It went even further by adding language to defund painful USDA experiments on dogs and cats and requiring all federal facilities to implement policies for retiring lab animals and making them available for adoption when testing ends.

White Coat Waste has celebrated the additions as a major victory.

In a statement provided to The Gateway Pundit, White Coat Waste Senior Vice President Justin Goodman said:

“Since White Coat Waste first exposed and ended Dr. Fauci’s reckless funding for gain-of-function animal experiments in Wuhan, we’ve led the fight to stop taxpayers from being forced to bankroll dangerous and unaccountable animal labs in China and other hostile foreign countries. Thanks to our work with Senator Joni Ernst and other bipartisan lawmakers on the Farm Bill, Congress is now closer than ever to ensuring taxpayers aren’t funding foreign enemies’ animal labs.

WCW’s investigations proved the foreign animal lab funding problem was bigger than Fauci. We also exposed—and helped end—Biden USDA funding for bird flu gain-of-function experiments with Wuhan-linked mad scientists in China and deadly brain experiments on foxes at a Kremlin-controlled fur farm in Russia.

American tax dollars should never fund animal labs in communist China, Putin’s Russia, or any other foreign adversary.

The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness.”

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