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

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SELF. Mr. Chair, I rise to support my amendment. I am outraged that our universities and institutions are receiving gifts or entering into contracts with foreign countries that seek to destroy or harm the United States.

H.R. 1048, the DETERRENT Act, would strengthen disclosure requirements by reducing the threshold from $250,000 to $50,000, but those provisions are not strong enough. The American people deserve to know about every single dollar coming from adversary foreign sources, no matter how small.

That is why I am introducing an amendment to slash the reporting threshold from $50,000 all the way down to $1; total transparency of every cent. Any foreign gift, no matter how small, can influence our democracy, and we must close any loophole that lets foreign actors purchase access or sway our institutions.

This is not about research. This is about human intelligence collection and business espionage. Having spent time in the intelligence community while I was in the military, this is a serious matter.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and ensure full transparency. Our constituents demand transparency today, and I say let's give them transparency. I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source