Press Releases

 House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI); Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA); House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI); and U.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) raised serious concerns following a new U.S. Department of Education report showing attempts by foreign entities aligned with the CCP and other adversaries to influence American universities. 
 
In the letters, the lawmakers write: “As you know, American universities conduct highly sensitive, critical research with direct military applications. Therefore, it is very alarming that countries of concern could be gaining access to research with national security implications at your institution by way of gifts and donations.”
 
The lawmakers continued: “To ensure the safety of the American people and uphold U.S. national security interests, sensitive research and technology must stay out of the hands of our adversaries.”
 
According to the Department of Education’s new foreign funding portal, 34 institutions have received over $183 million from foreign entities with ties to American adversaries, including the CCP. Previous reports outline how CCP partnerships have exposed American universities to theft of sensitive military research and intellectual property. In one example, the Chinese Academy of Engineering credited a collaboration between a U.S. professor and a Chinese institution with “leading China to develop new materials and technologies for cutting-edge defense weapons and equipment.”
 
As Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, Walberg led the House passage of the DETERRENT Act to strengthen transparency and accountability for foreign gifts and contracts at U.S. colleges and universities. He has also focused the Committee’s oversight efforts on exposing the ways foreign adversaries, including the CCP, use financial ties and influence campaigns to undermine academic integrity and advance anti-American interests on college campuses.
 
The lawmakers are requesting information from Bryant University; University of Texas at Arlington; University of Arizona; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of California, Berkeley; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Portland State University; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; and University of California, Irvine. 

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