Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, the Education and the Workforce Committee passed H.R. 5993, the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, legislation that brings clarity to foreign gift reporting requirements for colleges and universities and protects American education from malicious foreign influence.
 
On the passage of H.R. 5933, Chairwoman Foxx said: “Greater accountability in foreign gift reporting at colleges and universities is desperately needed. A new and shocking report from Network Contagion Research Institute found that at least 200 institutions withheld information on $13 billion in contributions from foreign regimes. Many of these contributions can be linked back to our adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party and Iran who are actively working to undermine America’s interests. The DETERRENT Act brings much needed transparency to the financial ties that our universities have with foreign entities. This bill will keep our adversaries at bay and hold our institutions to a higher standard.”
 
The DETERRENT Act:

• Slashes the foreign gift reporting threshold for colleges and universities from $250,000 down to $50,000, with an even stricter $0 threshold for countries of concern.
• Closes reporting loopholes and provides transparency to Congress, intelligence agencies, and the public.
• Requires disclosure of foreign gifts to individual staff and faculty at research-heavy institutions to protect those targeted the most by our adversaries.
• Holds our largest private institutions accountable for their financial partnerships by revealing concerning foreign investments in their endowments.
• Implements a series of repercussions for colleges and universities that remain noncompliant in foreign gift reporting such as fines and the loss of Title IV funding.  

Click here for a fact sheet.
Click here for  bill text.
Click here for a bill summary.
Click here for a video explainer.

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