被中國制裁的「反華急先鋒」美國參議員湯姆·科頓(Tom Cotton)將出任參議院情報委員會主席，這將使他擔任國會最關鍵的國家安全職位之一。科頓曾率先指出「新冠病毒是人為泄露」，明確要求就疫情向中國索賠。 中共外交部發言人趙立堅曾說，「誰都知道科頓是個什麼人，他說的話就像廢紙一樣。」
科頓曾接受福克斯記者採訪時聲稱，美國應限制中國留學生來美學習高科技和技術專業，「我們可以讓他們來美國學習莎士比亞和《聯邦黨人文集》，而不需要在美國學習量子計算和人工智能」。湯姆科頓還和另一名美國參議員布萊克本提出過一項議案，要求禁止向赴美從事科學、技術、工程和數學研究的中國人發放學生簽證。
Tom Cotton, a U.S. senator who has been sanctioned by China for his「anti-China vanguard」, will serve as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which will put him in one of the most critical national security positions in Congress. Cotton was the first to point out that「the new coronavirus was a man-made leak」 and explicitly demanded compensation from China for the epidemic. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian once said,「Everyone knows who Cotton is, and what he said is like waste paper.」
Cotton once claimed in an interview with a Fox reporter that the United States should restrict Chinese students from coming to the United States to study high-tech and technical majors,「We can let them come to the United States to study Shakespeare and The Federalist Papers, but they don’t need to study quantum computing and artificial intelligence in the United States.」 Tom Cotton also proposed a bill with another U.S. Senator Blackburn to ban the issuance of student visas to Chinese people who go to the United States to conduct research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
