For years, Washington met Georgia’s democratic decline with familiar language: concern, warnings, diplomatic statements. The result was always the same. Nothing changed. The ruling Georgian Dream party kept consolidating power, independent institutions weakened, and ties with the United States frayed. Now Congress has decided concern is no longer enough.

On June 8, the House passed H.R. 7668, the Countering China’s Control of the Caucasus Act. The law does not issue another statement. It imposes a deadline: within 180 days, U.S. intelligence agencies must deliver Congress a classified report mapping Russian, Chinese, and Iranian intelligence operations inside Georgia and how deeply they have penetrated the state.