Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) recently led a group of Senate colleagues in urging Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to probe allegations made by U.S. officials that DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence has provided support to the People’s Republic of China’s military and intelligence operations. The letter requests that the Department of Commerce investigate these allegations and thoroughly review threats posed by other Chinese open-source models that may be feeding information back to servers with ties to the Chinese government.

 Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) introduced the bipartisan Seized Iranian Arms Transfer Authorization (SEIZE) Act to authorize the use of Presidential Drawdown Authority to transfer confiscated Iranian weapons seized in transit to terror proxies like the Houthi’s in Yemen to U.S. partners for their use. The SEIZE Act would bypass a potentially year-long legal process for the distribution of captured Iranian weapons and equipment held by U.S. CENTCOM, allowing it to be sent directly to U.S. military partners around the globe.  

Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) was joined by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) in reintroducing the Financial Technology Protection Act. The bipartisan bill aims to address the illegal use of financial technologies and digital assets to prevent sanctions evasion, terrorist financing, and money laundering. 

 Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) recently introduced an amendment to the 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to ensure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can activate regulatory and enforcement authorities to prevent the importation of illicit weight loss drugs and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) from the Republic of China and other foreign countries.