The bill prevents schools partnering with China from receiving funding from the Department of Homeland Security.
WASHINGTON—The House passed a bill to reduce Chinese influence in U.S. universities on Sept. 10, the second day of “China Week,” a week the House Republican leadership designated to push through a package of China-related legislation.
On Sept. 9, the House passed 15 bills aimed at maintaining U.S. technical leadership and curbing China’s malign influence.
The bill introduced by August Pfluger (R-Texas) prevents schools that partner with Confucius Institutes, a Chinese influence program under the guise of language teaching, or receive Chinese-based funding, from obtaining Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants.
Confucius Institutes are funded by the CCP, which picks and pays for textbooks and selects and pays Chinese nationals who come to the United States to teach Chinese language, culture, and history.
A 2018 report by the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission states that the institutes had “longstanding and formal ties” to the CCP’s United Front Work Department, an agency responsible for coordinating its influence operations.
A 2022 report revealed that although the institutes went through massive closure in the United States in 2020 and 2021 after the State Department designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a Chinese foreign mission, a significant portion of them rebranded under similar programs.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) spoke against the bill, saying the language was too broad to ban all types of DHS funding, including disaster relief, for all U.S. colleges that receive money from China.
In a statement issued on Sept. 10, the White House supported the spirit of the bill but questioned the approach.
“The administration appreciates Congress’s efforts to ensure that DHS funding is made available only to partners that advance U.S. interests, homeland security, and democratic norms,“ the statement reads. ”However, there may be more appropriate ways to prevent DHS funding from being directed toward academic institutions that are vulnerable to the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] increasing monetary influence.”
The bill passed later in the afternoon with a vote of 249–161, with most representatives voting on party lines. Thirty-six Democrats voted for the bill.
By Terri Wu
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