Sens. Cramer, Rubio Introduce Bill to Target Donations From Foreign Adversaries to American Universities

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Greater Insight into Foreign Transactions (GIFTs) in Higher Education Act, a bill to target gifts and donations from designated foreign adversaries to American colleges and universities. 

“If a university accepts foreign money or gifts, their students, donors, and taxpayers deserve to know,” said Senator Cramer. “Our bill would improve oversight of foreign funding in higher education by holding universities accountable to ensure their reporting is full, accurate, and transparent.”

“Hostile foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party, routinely seek to infiltrate our higher education institutions to steal our research and exploit our intellectual property,” said Senator Rubio. “There is absolutely no reason that bad actors should be able to run these foreign influence operations that seek to undermine America. We need to bring greater transparency to donations from foreign adversaries and hold our institutions and the Department of Education more accountable to reporting these transactions in a timely manner.”

The GIFTs in Higher Education Act would help promote transparency in higher education gifts and donations by:  

• Expanding the current HEA Section 117 disclosure requirements to include faculty, professional staff and all staff engaged in research and development in addition to institutions of higher education.  
• Requiring gifts and contracts from designated foreign adversary sources to be disclosed within 30 days of the transaction dates if valued at $50,000 or more in a calendar year.  
• Codifying ‘designated foreign adversary sources’ and establishes a list of ‘designated foreign adversary governments’ that includes China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and the Nicolás Maduro regime of Venezuela.  
• Requiring the Department of Education to publish disclosures within 30 days of submission deadlines.  
• Making all federal funding to colleges and universities contingent on compliance with HEA Section 117 disclosure requirements.  
• Directing the Department of Education to work with other federal agencies to improve access to disclosure reports.