{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415150", "Combating foreign influence in American K-12 schoolsHouse passes the PROTECT Our Kids Act to prevent the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s communist teachings in American schools", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "With the strong support and vote of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), the U.S. House of Representatives passed the PROTECT Our Kids Act (HR 1069), legislation to \u201cprohibit the availability of Federal education funds for elementary and secondary schools that receive direct or indirect support from the Government of the People\u2019s Republic of China\u201d (PRC).\n\n\u201cThe PRC\u2019s goal in influencing American students is not an altruistic one; they are not seeking to merely \u2018enlighten\u2019 American children and expand their worldviews,\u201d said Smith. \u201cThe purpose of these so-called \u2018Confucius Classrooms\u2019 is to undermine and subvert American business, national security, and civic interests by manipulating malleable students into perceiving China favorably on the global stage.\n\n\u201cFor many years, I have been sounding the alarm on the PRC\u2019s pervasive and insidious influence on American students in our colleges and universities,\u201d continued Smith, the author of legislation to require Confucius Institutes, think tanks, academic programs, or nongovernmental organizations funded by the PRC to register under section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612).\n\n\u201cStudents in our elementary and secondary schools are especially vulnerable to the PRC\u2019s fabrications\u2014we must immediately end these pernicious programs.\n\n\u201cThe PROTECT Our Kids Act is a vital tool for helping to stop the spread of the PRC\u2019s lies about communism and the operations of the Chinese government, as well as promote the importance of protecting national security interests in America\u2019s schools,\u201d noted the China policy expert. \u201cThis legislation helps ensure that American students can no longer be misled and misinformed by foreign governments, such as the PRC, about the empty promises of communism.\n\n\u201cChina, led by the dictator thug General Secretary Xi Jinping, has been a standalone leader in perpetrating mass human rights abuses; a foreign government, especially of this nature, should have absolutely zero say in the education of our students.\n\n\u201cI strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to immediately take up this critical legislation for a vote. The United States should be educating our future leaders on the cruel truth of communist governments\u2014not allowing their impressionable minds to be shaped by a foreign government\u2019s lies,\u201d concluded Smith.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415150"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9128511883318424, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}