Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. OWENS. Mr. Chair, I proudly rise today in support of Congresswoman Steel's DETERRENT Act.

The world is on fire, and evil is spreading globally. We cannot permit American colleges and universities to be compromised. Our adversaries are determined to subvert our national interests, and today's modern battleground now includes American college campuses.

When American higher ed administrators accept financial incentives and gifts from adversarial regimes, it sends a clear message that influence on campus is for sale and that American universities are open for business.

Simply put, this is profit over patriotism. I will go a step further and call it anti-American.

It is important to understand that when our universities receive millions from countries that are antithetical to American values, there are strings attached.

Under section 117 of the Higher Education Act, colleges and universities must disclose any foreign funding to an institution exceeding $250,000. Yet, in 2019, a Senate report found that 70 percent of colleges chose to evade, hide, and cheat to avoid compliance with this law. Only 30 percent of administrators overseeing our educational institutions deemed it important to follow the law put in place by Congress with oversight authority.

This is incredibly concerning, and it must come to an end.

I am proud that my bill, the Reporting on Investments in Foreign Adversaries Act, the RIFA Act, was included in Congresswoman Steel's landmark legislation. This is the latest step to hold private industry accountable for their financial partnerships with foreign countries and entities hostile to the United States.

There is a disturbing lack of accountability for private institutions with endowments funded by foreign countries. Many of these countries seek nefarious influence within American universities, which undermines our national security.

By bribing American academic institutions with billions of dollars, our adversaries corrode the minds of American students with anti- American and pro-Marxist propaganda. This poses a threat to our national security, research and development efforts, intellectual property, and academic freedom as a whole.

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Mr. OWENS. Mr. Chair, the manipulation of our children on American soil paid for by the American taxpayer is unacceptable.

For the sake of our Republic and the millions of taxpaying Americans, we demand a higher standard, full transparency, and more accountability for college administrators who are complicit. We cannot be satisfied with anything less.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the DETERRENT Act.

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