WASHINGTON (AP) -- A report chronicling 20 years of Chinese espionage in pursuit of U.S. nuclear secrets is serving as a springboard for what promises to be a lengthy review by Congress of what China learned and how. And lawmakers are already pledging to pass legislation on everything from tightening restrictions on foreign scientists visiting national weapons labs and giving the Energy Department freer rein to conduct polygraphs to throwing more money into security efforts. In all, nine committees of Congress are engaged in various inquiries into Chinese spying or security lapses at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons labs, including committees in both the House and Senate that were to learn details of the espionage findings at hearings today. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of the House select committee on Chinese espionage that wrote the three-volume, 700-page report, and Rep. Norman Dicks of Washington, the panel's ranking Democrat, were to testify before the House International Relations subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Later, the two were to appear before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Dicks said today the Cox committee found no evidence that any administration official changed his or her behavior because of Chinese campaign contributions. ``On the whole question of did anybody make a decision based on political pressure, we found noting of that sort,'' Dicks said on NBC's ``Today.'' Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, also interviewed on NBC, said the committee report was balanced and statesmanlike and added: ``We are fixing the problem. ... We've taken some dramatic counterintelligence measures to beef up security at the labs. ... Right now I don't believe there is penetration'' of security. The House International Relations subcommittee already has heard details of the Cox report in closed sessions and its chairman, Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., is likely to learn little since he was another one of the nine lawmakers who wrote the report. Lawmakers are already showing an eagerness to beef up the Energy Department's security and counterintelligence budgets. A Senate subcommittee approved an additional $53 million on Tuesday for anti-espionage activities at the Energy Department. Various measures to tighten security at U.S. weapons labs and to put new restrictions on technology exports to China are headed for congressional votes, some perhaps as early as this week as Congress considers defense spending bills in both chambers. The Senate also is expected to act soon on legislation that would bar some Chinese officials from traveling in the United States. ``Congress has a duty to find out what happened in the past, what's occurring now and what should be done to hold those involved responsible for their reckless and illegal actions,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Tuesday in a statement responding to the Chinese espionage report. The Cox report concluded that China stole information on the United States' most advanced thermonuclear weapons over 20 years of espionage and that thefts ``almost certainly continue to the present.'' It also said the information stolen helped modernize China's nuclear program and that some U.S. weapon design technology may end up being incorporated in China's next generation of nuclear warheads. China's ambassador to the United States, Li Zhaoxing, called the charges of spying ``a vicious slander'' on his country. ``Some of the politicians are still feeling nostalgia for the Cold War. ... They are looking for a new enemy,'' he said Tuesday evening on CNN's ``Larry King'' show. The intelligence committees of both the House and Senate, meanwhile, are attempting to determine who should be held accountable for the espionage, some of which dates back to the 1970s, and whether the investigation into some of those losses had been mishandled -- especially those at the Los Alamos weapons lab in New Mexico. A scientist at the lab, Wen Ho Lee, was fired last March for security violations after being under investigation by the FBI in connection with the loss of nuclear secrets in the 1980s. The Justice Department and FBI have been criticized for not searching his computer or seeking authorization for a wiretap. Lee has not been charged with a crime and has denied any espionage, although he remains under investigation. Both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee have voiced concern about the handling of the Los Alamos investigation. Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the response was so bad that Attorney General Janet Reno should resign. Asked about Shelby's call for her resignation, Reno said Tuesday, ``We just respectfully disagree.'' She called the Cox report ``very constructive'' and said it offered ``some very important suggestions about what to do about espionage.'' ``Congress has a clear duty to get the bottom of the facts, find out what happened and what is still going on, and to demand accountability from those responsible,'' said Rep. J.C. Watts Jr., R-Okla. Richardson said an internal department investigation is expected to be completed, possibly this week, on the handling of the Los Alamos investigation by both the department and laboratory officials. ``There will be individuals held accountable,'' said Richardson. -=-=- 