{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-hagerty-blackburn-scott-introduce-bill-to-protect-american-universities-from-foreign-influence", "Cotton, Hagerty, Blackburn, Scott Introduce Bill to Protect American Universities from Foreign Influence", "2021-06-17", "2021", "2021-06", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353\n\nJune 17, 2021\n\nCotton, Hagerty, Blackburn, Scott Introduce Bill to Protect American Universities from Foreign Influence\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), and Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) introduced the Foreign Funding Accountability Act, legislation to combat malign foreign influence in American colleges and universities by strengthening Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. Bill text may be found here.\n\nSpecifically, the bill would:\n\nRequire the disclosure of full names of foreign donating entities\u2014individual, institutional, or otherwise\n\nRequire the disclosure of the specific purposes of foreign gift-transactions\n\nClose the loophole allowing gifting by registered foreign agents\n\nClose the loophole exempting in-kind gifts from counting towards the disclosure minimum\n\nClarify that foreign gifts to university foundations are not exempt from disclosure\n\nLower the minimum reporting threshold for disclosure in terms of dollar amount\u2014from $250,000 to $25,000\n\nLevy a graduated civil penalty structure against institutions willfully, and repeatedly violating Section 117\n\n\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party has made consistent attempts to infiltrate American colleges and universities. Our bill will close donation loopholes, barring the CCP and other foreign agents from donating millions, or even billions, to levy influence and steal American intellectual property,\u201d said Cotton.\n\n\u201cAs a strategic adversary seeking to overtake the United States, the Chinese Communist Party is going to extraordinary lengths to exert malign influence over America\u2019s free and open society, including our higher education system. By increasing transparency, closing loopholes, and imposing new civil penalties in U.S. law, this important legislation seeks to prevent the CCP and its intermediaries from hiding in the shadows to buy control and influence within our higher education, to manipulate what American students are taught about China, and to steal intellectual property from our nation\u2019s researchers,\u201d said Hagerty.\n\n\u201cCommunist China has infiltrated American colleges and universities. It is imperative we cut off Beijing\u2019s access to funnel money in exchange for influence in higher education. Our children\u2019s education should not be available for purchase by the CCP,\u201d said Blackburn.\n\n\u201cAttempts by the Chinese Communist Party and other bad actors to infiltrate the American education system is a blatant example of foreign competitors trying to maintain and expand their global power to our detriment,\u201d said Scott. \u201cBy holding institutions of higher education accountable for foreign donations we are taking necessary steps to promote transparency, protect our intellectual property, and ensure our country\u2019s future leaders get a quality education.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nSection 117 of the Higher Education Act requires universities to report foreign gifts and contract transactions twice per year. Compliance with and enforcement of this statute has historically been underwhelming and many institutions do not properly abide by it, allowing malign foreign influence to creep into American higher education.\n\nIn October 2020, the Department of Education issued a report detailing the lack of Section 117 compliance by many colleges and universities. The report describes how the Department of Education created an online reporting portal last June, that has since recorded $3.8 billion in foreign gifts and contracts.\n\nSeparate department investigations since June 2019 uncovered an additional $6.5 billion in unreported foreign gifts. Of the approximately 7,000 transactions recorded in the online portal, 60 institutions were classified as \u201cnew filers,\u201d implying they hadn\u2019t submitted any reporting data, as mandated, from 1986 until June 2020.\n\nIn February 2021, Senator Cotton published a report, \u201cBeat China: Targeted Decoupling and the Economic Long War\u201d which explored the threat China poses to the U.S. economy and detailed how the U.S. should respond.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:57:00Z"]], "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://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-hagerty-blackburn-scott-introduce-bill-to-protect-american-universities-from-foreign-influence"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4054870698601007, "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"}