The U.S. House Committee of Foreign Affairs unanimously voted on Jan. 21 to support the advancement of a bill that entrusts Congress with more control over artificial intelligence chip exports, Al Jazeera reported. 

The new bill will allow Congress to restrict sensitive AI information from reaching China and other non-U.S. political allies. 

The new legislation still requires approval from the full House and Senate. 

Brian Mast, Florida representative and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the bill in December 2025 as the AI Overwatch Act, Reuters reported. 

“America must win the AI arms race,” Mast said in a statement when he first introduced the bill.

The bill would legally sanction Nvidia, as there have been claims that the company was exporting AI chips carrying sensitive military information.

“If we were just talking about war games on Xbox, then Jensen Huang could sell as many chips as he wants, to anybody that he wants,” Mast said. 

“But this is not about kids playing Halo on their television. This is about the future of military warfare.”

Nvidia refused to comment about the allegations. 

Although the AI Overwatch Act was approved by the committee, there was still backlash regarding the bill as a threat to China’s technological advancement. 

Conservative activist Laura Loomer referred to the AI Act on X as a “pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight.” 

The White House has not made a statement about the bill. 

Mast and other committees responded to criticism regarding the AI Overwatch Act as necessary to safeguard U.S. national security. 

Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic, also agrees that this would be a national security breach. 

“It would be a big mistake to ship these chips,” Amodei said at the World Economic Forum. “I think this is crazy. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.”

As the debate continues, the act waits in the hands of the House and the Senate for further action.