Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., presented legislation on Friday that would require American colleges to disclose foreign gifts and contracts, Fox News informed.
In 2019 and 2020, the Education Department began cracking down on colleges accepting foreign contributions under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act in an effort to track the amount of money flowing into the US education system from countries like China and Qatar.
When Vice President Joe Biden took office, that changed.
Between July 1, 2020, and January 20, 2021, American schools received $1.6 billion in foreign gifts.
Schools, on the other hand, reported only $4.3 million in gifts over a longer period of time between Jan. 20, 2021 and November 20, 2021, drawing queries from lawmakers regarding reporting obligations.
The Safeguard Our Universities From Foreign Influence Act, introduced by Banks, would lower the threshold for reporting foreign gifts and contracts from $250,000 to $50,000.
It also compels the Department of Education to make full disclosure-related documents available for public review online, increases scrutiny of contributions connected to key technologies, and defines “foreign sources” as contributors who earn substantial revenue or income from a foreign source.
The bill also creates a new agency at the Department of Education to assess foreign donations and contacts with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and to reject and cancel foreign gifts and contracts that are deemed to jeopardize US competitiveness or national security.
During his first year in office, former President Donald Trump proposed a revision to Section 117 that might enhance foreign gift reporting requirements.
Since assuming office, President Biden has withdrawn those revisions and has not attempted to implement his own adjustments to Section 117.
The nonprofit Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, Inc. previously informed Fox News Digital that after the formation of the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, it noted a surge in reported foreign gifts to the university.
DFI asserts that between February 2017 and September 2020, the university collected $21 million in reported external gifts.
Be the first to comment