DETERRENT Act

Key Points

• This bill, called the DETERRENT Act, would require colleges to tell the government whenever they receive $50,000 or more from a foreign source. Currently, schools only have to report these gifts if they are worth $250,000 or more.
• Colleges would be banned from signing contracts with 'countries of concern,' such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, unless they get a special one-year waiver from the government. For these specific countries, schools must report every dollar received, no matter how small the amount.
• Large research universities that get more than $50 million in federal funding would have to set up internal systems to track foreign gifts given directly to their faculty and staff. This information would then be put into a public, searchable database so anyone can see who is paying for campus programs.
• Schools that hide this foreign money could face massive fines starting at $50,000 or the total value of the gift. If a college is caught breaking these rules three times, it could lose its ability to accept federal student loans and grants for at least two years.
• The Education Department would be required to share all foreign gift reports with national security agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, to help identify potential foreign influence or spying on American campuses.