WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are cracking down on foreign gifts given to U.S. universities and colleges, warning the financial ties could be used to influence research and amplify anti-American propaganda among students.
The House passed a bill on Thursday that would clarify gift reporting guidelines for educational institutions and strengthen disclosure requirements for schools that have financial ties or contracts with “certain foreign entities of concern.” The Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions, or DETERRENT Act, would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand current requirements and in some cases ban certain contracts that have not received a waiver from the Department of Education.
“My bill, the DETERRENT Act is … a crucial step in combating foreign influence in U.S. universities,” Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., said in a post on X. “This legislation ensures transparency, accountability, and protects our national security.”
The bill comes as GOP lawmakers have claimed some schools are “all-too willing” to bypass certain requirements to maintain lucrative financial ties with foreign countries even if they are considered adversarial.
Republicans have argued that those nations — China, in particular — then exploit financial ties with U.S. colleges and universities as a way to undermine national security, steal critical research, and indoctrinate students.
Under the DETERRENT Act, the foreign gift reporting threshold for colleges and universities would be significantly reduced from $250,000 to $50,000. That threshold would be further reduced to a $0 threshold for countries of concern.
It would also require the disclosure of foreign gifts to individual staff members and faculty at research-heavy institutions. For colleges that are found noncompliant, the legislation would implement “a series of repercussions” such as fines or loss of Title IV funding.
The bill includes several provisions introduced by Utah Rep. Burgess Owens’s Reporting on Investments in Foreign Adversaries, which implements increased reporting requirements for private universities with endowments above $6 billion or investments above $250 million.
Those additional requirements include a list of investments purchased, sold, or held during the previous calendar year; aggregate fair market value of all investments of concern held; combined value of all investments of concern sold over the calendar year; and combined value of all capital gains from sales of investments of concern.
“America’s adversaries are using our colleges and universities as entry points to infiltrate our institutions, steal our research, and undermine our national security,” Owens said in a statement. “The DETERRENT Act, which includes provisions from my RIFA Act, exposes unchecked foreign influence, eliminates hidden financial ties with hostile regimes, and ensures that students learn in an environment that upholds American values — not one that sells them out to the highest bidder.”
Roughly 350 U.S. universities received a total of nearly $18 million from foreign nations between 2014 and 2019, according to a report from the Network Contagion Research Institute. More than 60% of that money came from China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
However, Republicans say this could be misreported. A Senate report from 2019 found that about 70% of all U.S. educational institutions fail to comply with current reporting requirements and those that do comply often underreport.
“We cannot allow foreign adversaries like the CCP, whose mission is to undermine American interests, infect our political discourse, and shape young minds to their design, to continue to infiltrate our campuses and influence American higher education,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a press release. “House Republicans are bringing legislation to demand American education institutions stop hiding their dealings with foreign regimes to allow for transparency and oversight.”
The bill passed the House largely along party lines in a 241-169 vote on Thursday. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.