Congress·In Committee·S. 1296

Sen. Tillis Introduces DETERRENT Act to Reveal Foreign Influence at U.S. Universities

DETERRENT Act

11 months ago·View on Congress.gov

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

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Law

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.

EducationNational Security Foreign Policy

Impact Analysis

Who is affectedScoreImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Scores: 1 = low, 5 = highSentiment: -5 to +5 (net benefit)

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Apr 3, 2025Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Apr 3, 2025

Introduced in Senate

What Happens Next

Projected impacts based on AI analysis

30 days after enactment

Universities must submit waiver requests for existing contracts with countries of concern

Schools with current ties to nations like China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea would have just 30 days to seek government approval or start winding down those contracts, potentially disrupting ongoing research partnerships.

90 days after enactment

Large research universities must set up foreign gift tracking systems for faculty and staff

Schools receiving more than $50 million in federal research funds would need to create internal disclosure policies and public databases within 90 days, giving the public a new window into who is funding university researchers.

By May 31 of the year after enactment

Department of Education launches public searchable database of all foreign gift reports

Anyone — journalists, students, parents, lawmakers — would be able to search and sort foreign funding data by school, country, and dollar amount, making it much easier to spot patterns of foreign influence.

Related News

5 articles

NASFAA·12 months ago

House Passes DETERRENT Act

The bill aims to increase transparency by requiring colleges to report every dollar received from countries of concern. It also mandates that schools receiving over $50 million in federal funding set up internal systems to track foreign gifts to individual faculty members.

Legis1·7 days ago

Senate Hearing Preview: Foreign Money on Campus Faces New Scrutiny From HELP Committee

A 2026 Senate hearing examines the DETERRENT Act's impact on higher education. The bill's focus on lowering reporting thresholds and tracking faculty-level gifts has sparked intense lobbying from major research universities concerned about administrative burdens.

The Hill·over 2 years ago

House passes bill to crack down on foreign influence at universities

House Republicans passed legislation to crack down on foreign influence at universities by lowering reporting thresholds. The bill aims to close loopholes that allowed billions in foreign funds to go undetected by federal regulators and requires a public database of foreign gifts.