The College Fix

That money comes with ‘hidden agendas,’ Rep. Baumgartner says

Higher education institutions would be required to report as little as $1 in funding from China under legislation that passed the U.S. House on Thursday.

The Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act would close loopholes that U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar says the Chinese Communist Party is using to “infiltrate and influence our academic institutions.”

“The passage of the DETERRENT Act is a powerful response to China’s aggressive attempts to use financial leverage to undermine our universities and national security,” the Michigan Republican (pictured) stated in a news release.

“This legislation enhances transparency, closes dangerous loopholes, and holds institutions accountable for their dealings with foreign adversaries like the CCP,” Moolenaar stated. He chairs the House Select Committee on China.

The legislation, which now heads to the U.S. Senate, would lower universities’ “foreign gift reporting threshold from $250,000 … to $0 for countries of concern like China,” the news release states. For other countries, the threshold would be $50,000.

It also requires institutions to report “foreign contracts with individual faculty at research-heavy universities.”

Colleges and universities that fail to make these disclosures could incur fines or lose federal funding, if the bill passes.

An investigation last year by the Wall Street Journal found American universities had more than $2.3 billion in contracts with China over the past decade.

And, according to a House Education Committee fact sheet, “Nearly 30 percent of foreign funding schools disclosed had missing data, with billions reported as ‘anonymous.’”

U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the money comes with “hidden agendas.”

“We need to ensure that Chinese influences and other foreign powers are not allowed to compromise the integrity of American educational institutions for their own gain,” the Washington state Republican said in a news release.

Facing pressure from Congress, some universities are cutting ties with the Asian nation.

Earlier this year, University of California, Berkeley leaders said the institution is “in the process of relinquishing” its partnership with a school in China, The College Fix reported. The university received $87.5 million from China for the project.

The Georgia Institute of Technology recently ended a similar partnership after an investigation found the school had received millions of dollars in unreported funding from China, The Fix reported last month.

MORE: ‘Alarming’: House report warns of China’s tie to U.S. universities

MORE: Contracts between U.S. universities, China total more than $2 billion: investigation

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar speaks during a U.S. House hearing. Rep. John Moolenaar/YouTube

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