Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is taking action to hold universities accountable for failing to report foreign funding in compliance with federal law.
Cruz is introducing the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act to impose penalties on universities if they receive foreign funding and do not report it as required by the Higher Education Act, National Review has learned.
“The Chinese Communist Party expends vast resources to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think, as do other adversaries including Russia and Iran. Unchecked foreign funding flowing into American universities opens the door for such adversaries to influence American students and research,” Cruz said in a statement.
“This bill would ensure that higher education institutions are held accountable if they fail to disclose foreign funding, as required by law. I call on my colleagues to expeditiously advance it, for the House to then pass it, and to get it to the President.”
Cruz’s legislation would impose a 300 percent tax on funding universities receive from countries of concern, including Russia, China, and Iran. It would separately enact a 110 percent tax on unreported funds among institutions that fail to disclose funding from foreign entities. The bill also mandates biannual audits of 30 universities with a focus on those with large endowments and histories of misconduct.
Representative Brandon Gill (R., Texas) is introducing companion legislation in the House to team up with Cruz on tackling foreign influence over American universities.
“American universities that receive taxpayer funding and mold the minds of our next generation of working adults should not be compromised by the foreign influence of adversarial nations and their big ticket donations,” Gill said in a statement provided to NR.
Heritage Action, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, and FDD Action, the political arm of the pro-Israel Foundation for Defense of Democracies, both support Cruz’s bill.
“By imposing rigorous audits and substantial penalties, this legislation ensures transparency and accountability, deterring malign actors like China and Russia from exploiting our universities. Protecting our academic institutions from covert foreign influence is essential for national security, and we urge swift passage of this bill,” said Nick Stewart, FDD Action’s senior director of government relations.
The Higher Education Act mandates colleges and universities disclose foreign gifts annually totaling $250,000 or more. All educational institutions that receive foreign funding are supposed to disclose foreign gifts, but many of them fail to comply with the law.
Senator Jim Banks (R., Ind.) introduced similar legislation last month to require colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts in order to combat covert foreign influence operations. Fears of foreign influence from China and Middle Eastern countries have heightened due to anti-Israel protests on campuses nationwide and high profile cases of Chinese espionage in American institutions.