Dhs Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 377, I call up the bill (H.R. 881) to establish Department of Homeland Security funding restrictions on institutions of higher education that have a relationship with Confucius Institutes, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. PFLUGER. 881.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 881, the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern.

I have long been concerned that the threats the Chinese Communist Party poses to our homeland are not only real, but they are right here.

In the Homeland Security Committee and on my Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, we have heard from a wide array of national security experts and law enforcement officials who have continuously raised alarms about the CCP's increasing subversive activities inside our country through organizations like the CCP's Confucius Institutes, the Thousand Talents Program, and other CCP- affiliated groups.

While Confucius Institutes are presented as centers for promoting Chinese language and culture, it is proven that they have been used to steal critical research, recruit talent for military-civil fusion enterprises, conduct espionage, commit transnational repression, and influence academic institutions to the benefit of the CCP.

At their peak, the United States hosted approximately 118 Confucius Institutes, primarily at colleges and universities. Now, there are fewer than 14 active Confucius Institutes today, but the danger still remains. Many of these programs have rebranded themselves within universities with the same mission as before, and that is to subvert national security and expand CCP influence operations.

Another example is the CCP's Thousand Talents Program, which the FBI has listed as the most prolific sponsor of State-sponsored talent recruitment programs that bring outside knowledge and innovation back to China, often through stealing trade secrets, breaking export control laws, or violating conflict of interest policies.

These talent recruitment programs are a win-win for China. China wins twice. First, U.S. taxpayers are funding their research, not China; and, second, China then uses the research it would not have otherwise had to advance its own economic and military interests.

Today, we are debating H.R. 881, my legislation which, by the way, is bipartisan, that would prohibit DHS from funding American universities that host a Confucius Institute or Thousand Talents Program or maintain relationships with Chinese entities of concern. H.R. 881 also ensures that universities prioritize the education of their students over any of their partnerships with these institutions.

This legislation passed the House last year with bipartisan support, and this year H.R. 881 passed the Committee on Homeland Security with unanimous, bipartisan support.

I thank Chairman Green; Ranking Member Thompson; my counterpart on the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, Ranking Member Magaziner; and the Committee on Homeland Security staff for moving this critical legislation forward.

The DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act would play a vital role in protecting our students, intellectual property, and national security. Together, this effort demonstrates a unified, bipartisan way to protect our Nation from the insidious influence of the CCP, and that our students, our intellectual property, and our national security are protected from the malign influence of the CCP.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my Republican and Democratic colleagues to support this legislation.
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Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Speaker, I will point out that this bill was actually brought up during the Biden administration and has nothing to do with one administration or another. It was bipartisan, and those entities of concern are named in and are labeled within the DOD. We do have a pattern of history of Confucius Institutes switching names but remaining the same for the purpose of malign influence.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member and the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner) for his work on this bill. This is a process that has taken a couple of years, and I believe that we have a good, bipartisan bill that addresses the issue at hand.

Mr. Speaker, let me close with this. Continuing to use our taxpayer dollars to give the Chinese Communist Party a seat in the front row of our universities' classrooms and research labs would be a catastrophic mistake.

It has been proven that the CCP does use programs like Confucius Institutes, not to build bridges or promote culture, as they may say, but to expand their influence inside the United States for malign purposes. This legislation would put an end to this egregious national security threat. Quite frankly, it is well overdue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together, to stand firm for our American education system, and to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.

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Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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