Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) spoke on the House Floor in support of H.R. 1048, the bipartisan Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA):

"Foreign nations, including our biggest adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, contribute billions to American universities. The lack of transparency around foreign relationships should concern every American as we see stolen research, antisemitic propaganda, and academic censorship. None of these things belong inside our borders, yet alone on our college campuses. 
 
"By establishing footholds in American schools, bad actors gain access to valuable research and intellectual property that can be used to bolster their own military and undermine our nation’s interests. 
 
"Under the Higher Education Act, schools are required to report foreign gifts and funding. Unfortunately, loose legislative language, the Biden-Harris administration’s inaction, and colleges’ refusal to adhere to the law have resulted in billions of foreign funds infiltrating our country undetected. Last year, a Congressional investigation of two research universities uncovered nearly $40 million in unreported research contracts with the Chinese Communist Party. Forty million dollars in unreported funds at just two universities! 
 
"Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Without transparency, we have no idea the true amount or impact of foreign funds at our institutions.   
 
"This is why we need the DETERRENT Act. It closes these loopholes and has more strict reporting requirements for foreign funding and contracts. It also will hold institutions accountable by imposing fines, such as the loss of student aid funding, for schools that continually fail to comply. 
 
"This bipartisan bill is a commonsense solution to an irrefutable problem, which is why it passed last Congress with bipartisan support. We should be loud and clear; no American university should be helping the hidden agendas of the Chinese Communist Party or other nations continue to threaten U.S. national security.
 
"I thank Mr. Baumgartner for introducing this vital piece of legislation. 
 
"I’d also like to highlight that DETERRENT includes bills from my Committee colleagues Rep. Harris, Rep. Owens, and Rep. Messmer. 
 
"I urge my colleagues to support the DETERRENT Act. Doing so will help defend against our adversaries while also holding our institutions to a higher standard than “take foreign money first, ask questions later."

For a fact sheet on the DETERRENT Act, click here.
To separate myth from fact on the DETERRENT Act, click here.
For a video explainer, click here.

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