Dive Brief:
- The House passed a bill Thursday that would require colleges to report all foreign gifts and contracts from “countries of concern" and bar them from working with those countries without annual approval from the U.S. secretary of education.
- For all other countries, the legislation would lower the foreign gift reporting requirement from the current $250,000 threshold to $50,000.
- If enacted, colleges that didn't comply with the reporting rules would face fines and the loss of their Title IV federal student aid funding.
Dive Insight:
The Republican-backed legislation, known as the Deterrent Act, passed the House with bipartisan support.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, a Republican from Washington and author of the act, argued Thursday that the stricter reporting rules are necessary to guard higher education from foreign interference.
"This bill reflects a growing consensus that transparency and accountability are essential in safeguarding American universities from the influence of foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party," he said in a statement.
The “countries of concern" index is set by the U.S. Department of State and currently lists a dozen countries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who chairs the House education committee, similarly praised the legislation as addressing "the lack of transparency around foreign relationships with our nation's universities."
"We should be loud and clear; no American university should be helping the Chinese Communist Party or other entities continue to threaten U.S. national security," he said in a Thursday statement.
Baumgartner pressed colleges to comply with the bill's proposed guidelines in advance, saying they needn't wait for a push from lawmakers.
Adopting the bill's framework now — "by disclosing foreign funding, establishing robust oversight, and ensuring that no outside power undermines the pursuit of knowledge — can help preserve the free exchange of ideas and innovations that are central to our academic institutions," he said.
Democrats largely voiced opposition to the measure when the House Committee on Education and Workforce advanced the bill last month.
This marks the second time the House has passed a version of the Deterrent Act. The first attempt, in 2023, drew objections from higher education groups and failed to be put to a vote in the then-Democrat controlled Senate. But the bill stands a far greater chance of being enacted this session, as Republicans control both chambers of Congress.
