Washington, D.C. — Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) has co-sponsored the Safeguarding American Education from Foreign Control Act.
The bill would require American universities to report gifts of any value from foreign adversaries and would require the Department of Education to share all open and future reports with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The bill was originally introduced by Senator JD Vance (R-OH).
Read the text of the bill HERE.
Sen. Budd said in a statement:
“Whether it’s buying up farmland, data mining through TikTok and Huawei, or sending a spy balloon across our mainland, it is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party is willing to use any means necessary to influence and undermine our nation. America’s educational institutions are no exception, and that is why I am glad to join Senator Vance in this important effort to implement stricter safeguards that will help protect our students from any attempt by the CCP to exert influence over our colleges and universities.”
Senator Vance said:
“The institutions tasked with educating America’s future leaders have been repeatedly exposed for seeking money from our adversaries, especially the Chinese Communist Party. We cannot allow the CCP, or any hostile nation for that matter, to continue to infiltrate and exploit our higher education system. The American people deserve to see every single dollar of foreign donations going to U.S. colleges and universities, and that’s exactly what this legislation would do.”
Background:
- As it is currently written, Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires universities to semiannually disclose to the U.S. Department of Education any gifts received from and contracts with a foreign source valued at $250,000 or more.
- Universities continue to flout such requirements. In May, UC Berkeley was exposed for failing to disclose $220 million in Chinese state funding for a joint tech venture.
- The Biden Department of Education refuses to enforce the Section 117 requirements and hold universities accountable.
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