House Education Committee Advances DETERRENT Act
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The House Education & Workforce Committee on Wednesday advanced the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act by a vote of 20-14.
The DETERRENT Act, which seeks to amend foreign gift and contract reporting requirements for institutions, was reintroduced this Congressional session by Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the House Education & Workforce Committee, and Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.). During the previous 118th Congress, the DETERRENT Act passed the House by a vote of 246-170.
The legislation would make several amendments to the Higher Education Act (HEA) to foreign gift and contract reporting requirements for institutions. That includes cutting the foreign gift reporting threshold for institutions from $250,000 down to $50,000, and a $0 threshold for “countries of concern.”
Additionally, the legislation would create a new “Investment Disclosure Report” requirement for private institutions with endowments over $6 billion or with “investments of concern” above $250 million. Institutions would need to disclose to the Department of Education (ED), on an annual basis, investments with a “country of concern” or a foreign entity of concern under this reporting requirement. Then, those institutions’ reports would be made publicly available in a searchable database.
If institutions are found to not be compliant with the legislation’s foreign gift reporting requirements, they could then be fined, or could lose their Title IV eligibility.
Walberg said in response to the legislation’s advancement that the DETERRENT Act is a “strong first step to limit the reach of our adversaries.”
“The very first package of bills passed out of this Committee sends a strong message: we will not tolerate any attempt by America’s adversaries to subvert our education system or exploit our students,” Walberg said. “Authoritarian regimes around the world, like the Chinese Communist Party, are trying to use lucrative financial ties to influence our students, steal research, and censor free speech.”
NASFAA and other higher education organizations have previously opposed the DETERRENT Act because of concerns over the privacy of research faculty and staff, the potential hampering of productive international collaborations, and it being unclear as to why endowments at certain private institutions would be specifically called out as a national security concern, among other concerns.
During his opening remarks in Wednesday’s markup, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Education & Workforce Committee, called the DETERRENT Act an “arbitrary” and “potentially discriminatory approach targeting certain countries and their researchers.”
“By focusing on nationality rather than security risks, this bill undermines the international collaborations that have historically advanced fields like health and technology,” Scott said in his opening remarks. “As I’ve said before, we can address these concerns without undermining the trust between our institutions and our global partners.”
Publication Date: 2/13/2025
David S | 2/13/2025 1:58:53 PM
Hmm. Goose, you can't have what the gander has.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/trump-likely-benefited-from-13-6-million-in-payments-from-foreign-governments-during-his-presidency/
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