Chairman Moolenaar Applauds Passage of DETERRENT Act

WASHINGTON DC —Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on China released the following statement on today’s passage of the DETERRENT Act:

“Today, we are taking a critical stand against the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to infiltrate and influence our academic institutions. The passage of the DETERRENT Act is a powerful response to China’s aggressive attempts to use financial leverage to undermine our universities and national security. This legislation enhances transparency, closes dangerous loopholes, and holds institutions accountable for their dealings with foreign adversaries like the CCP. By strengthening oversight, we are ensuring American higher education remains focused on its mission of academic integrity, not serving the interests of hostile foreign powers. This is a victory in the fight to protect our education system from CCP influence.” 

Background Information:  A recent investigation found nearly $40 million in unreported research contracts between top U.S. universities and Chinese entities tied to the CCP and its military. This alarming discovery made clear what many have long suspected: foreign adversaries are using American colleges and universities to gain access to sensitive research, spread propaganda, and undermine our national security. 

The DETERRENT Act is a bipartisan effort to stop this growing threat. It strengthens reporting requirements for foreign gifts and contracts to U.S. academic institutions — and holds schools accountable when they fail to comply. 

Right now, colleges and universities are supposed to report foreign funding under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. But the law is vague, poorly enforced, and full of loopholes. As a result, billions in foreign money — often from adversarial regimes like the Chinese Communist Party — has entered U.S. campuses with little to no oversight. 

This is a national security risk because the CCP is using these financial relationships to steal intellectual property, influence campus environments, and suppress academic freedom. 

The DETERRENT Act fixes this by: 

• Lowering the foreign gift reporting threshold from $250,000 to $50,000 — and to $0 for countries of concern like China.
• Requiring disclosure of foreign contracts with individual faculty at research-heavy universities.
• Closing loopholes and improving transparency.
• Enforcing real penalties — including fines and loss of federal funding — for schools that don’t follow the law. 

This bill is a necessary step to protect American students, research, and institutions from hidden foreign influence. 

###