Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, America's enemies will stop at nothing to destroy us, and they don't care how they do it. These enemies would stoop so low as to target our young people. For years, countries like the People's Republic of China have used our own universities to advance agendas that hurt American security.

Aside from the state of Qatar, there is probably no other country in the world that finances U.S. colleges and universities more than the People's Republic of China. They use this all-access pass to steal our intellectual property, abuse our student visa programs, and prop up Communist-inspired Confucius Institutes.

This places the Chinese authorities in a real position of influence among our young people, all the more so because our own government doesn't try to hold our colleges and universities accountable to the basic disclosure standards.

A 2019 Senate report found that up to 70 percent of all institutions failed to comply with what are called section 117 disclosure requirements. Those that do not comply with section 117 substantially underreport their foreign donations and contracts.

Under current law, if gifts and contracts, either individual or combined, from an originating country meet or exceed $250,000, these donations must be reported to the Department of Education twice a year.

By failing to enforce our laws, we are signaling to our enemies, especially China, that we don't care if they use and abuse the American higher education system. As a result, we really don't have a clear idea of the extent of China's influence campaign against the youth of America.

Parliamentary Inquiry

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, when mom and dad send their kids to college, they expect them to get a good education and a return on investment, not to be indoctrinated by our enemies.

The DETERRENT Act does a very valuable service by requiring proper reporting and ensuring that four countries, Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China, who actively seek to undermine our sovereignty, are designated as ``foreign countries of concern.'' Think about that list. This designation means that, for these countries, the foreign gift reporting threshold is zero.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I urge that if we know we have an adversary, we should have access to all of their influence peddling in our country that is targeting our youth so we have the full scale and scope of what they are doing.

There is no country better than China at money laundering. If we ensure that their reporting threshold is zero for the People's Republic of China, that only solves one part of the equation. What happens when the leaders of the PRC attempt to continue their malign influence through Hong Kong or Macau? It could really marginalize the admirable intent of this legislation and could only temporarily, potentially, derail the PRC when we know they are going to try to get around it. We know they are going to launder money through other means.

We have to clear this up, shore this up, and further clarify.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I emphasize that we are talking about countries like Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China. Whether it is a bag of doughnuts or a bag of money, we know they are over here. We know they are doing it. It is not being fully reported. Mistakes are being made. They are trying to influence and brainwash our future leaders of this country.

We need to be proactive. We need to send a message that enough is enough. The reference to doughnuts, so be it. Whether it is a bag of doughnuts or a bag of money, if they are over here with malign intent, the American people have the right to know about it.

Those universities should be put on notice. If you are in bed with the enemy, you should be put on notice. If you are allowing subversion of our country on your campus, the American people should know it.

I don't see why anybody would have a problem with this. It is clear. We are talking about national security at a time when our adversaries are on the move.

I will note my sincere gratitude to both the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee as well as the committee staff for working with my team on these amendments. This amendment ensures that special administrative regions of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, are covered under the definition of a ``foreign country of concern'' in this bill. Again, we know they are going to launder money through those areas.

It is a commonsense edit that secures American colleges and universities against the number one existential threat to our way of life: the Communist Party of China.

Mr. Chair, again, this is a no-nonsense amendment. This makes sure that we cover our flank, that we identify those areas where we know that other countries can launder money through to influence our campuses. We saw it in the spring. We saw it over this past year, the bad behavior on college campuses. We have to make sure that this money isn't getting through dark channels, back channels, and influencing our universities and our youth.

Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, this amendment ensures that Chinese military companies are included as foreign entities of concern for the purposes of this bill, which would subject such companies to a strict zero- dollar threshold for gifts and contracts.

The section 1260H list was established in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and has since been used as a blacklist for Chinese military companies that are directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or beneficially owned by the People's Liberation Army or the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party.

Needless to say, these companies aren't here to be our friends. They hate us, and they want to harm us. They are here to steal our technology and advance China's military modernization efforts. Even so, there are going to be colleges in this country that get so captivated by a dollar figure that they would salivate at the chance to work with our enemies.

Some of America's most sensitive property is housed or developed at our universities, and if there is a whiff of partnership between the institution of higher education and a Chinese military company, the American people deserve to know the details of every last gift and contract.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, the definition of a ``foreign entity of concern'' in this bill would include any company subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government like China's. While constructive, there is still nothing in the underlying text of this bill and nothing within the definition of a ``foreign entity of concern'' that would automatically refer to the section 1260H list of Chinese military companies.

Since the section 1260H list is something that the Secretary of Defense is instructed to update, it is possible that there is a natural delay as to when Chinese military companies are designated as foreign entities of concern for the purposes of this act.

This amendment provides clarity and ensures that any U.S. college or university entering into a contract with or receiving a donation from a section 1260H list company is required to first receive a section 117A waiver from the Department of Education.

Again, the reporting threshold for foreign entities of concern is zero, meaning that a gift or contract of any size or scope has to be reported.

Mr. Chair, this is about accountability. We know that they are here to steal our secrets. We know that they want to undermine us. As we go into the next phase of warfare that is not just on the battlefield but is cyber war and its capabilities therein, we know that China is aggressive in these spaces. They are in our universities. They are on our campuses. They want to steal this information. We have to have a mechanism of accountability and reporting so that we know who is doing what and where.

It is that simple. It will require universities to pick their partners carefully and make sure they are safeguarding the very technologies that they are being entrusted to house on behalf of the U.S. Government and the U.S. people.

We don't need to enable the Chinese military through modernization, weaponization, or their attack on us, our Constitution, or our way of life. All this does is require reporting. This isn't calling every Chinese individual a bad actor but is acknowledging the fact that they are our enemy and not our friend, and they want to supplant us as the sole world power.

Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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