Rep. Mann Fights Communist China, Protects American Students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01) voted yes on H.R. 5933, the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, which would bring more transparency, accountability, and clarity to foreign gift reporting requirements for colleges and universities across the nation. 

“America is the epitome of higher education,” said Rep. Mann. “We are blessed to have the best opportunities on planet Earth for young people to pursue research, innovation, and scholarship. America’s enemies are threatened by this, and they are actively seeking to undermine it. Foreign entities, including our adversaries in China and Russia, regularly use large donations to American schools to undermine our interests, steal our research, and manipulate our students and faculty. Congress must bring transparency and clarity to foreign gift and contracting reporting requirements for colleges and universities. American students deserve a quality education that is not dictated by our foreign adversaries.”  

H.R. 5933, the DETERRENT Act, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today by a vote of 246-170, would:  

• Hold American institutions of higher education to a stricter standard on reporting the gifts, donations, and investments they receive from foreign entities 
• Drop the foreign gift reporting threshold for colleges and universities from $250,000 to $50,000 and impose a $0 threshold for adversarial countries like China and Russia 
• Require disclosure of foreign gifts and contracts to individual staff and faculty at research-heavy institutions to protect those most targeted by our adversaries 

“We can’t sit idly by while our enemies send a steady stream of cash with strings attached to our postsecondary schools,” said Rep. Mann. “This legislation defends American students and strengthens our national security.” 

Click here to view Rep. Mann’s Commitment to the Big First.

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