I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7842 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve protections against 

foreign influence at institutions of higher education, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2020 

Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve 

protections against foreign influence at institutions of 

higher education, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Intelligence on Nefar5 ious Foreign Leaders Using Education Networks for Cor6 rupt Enrichment Act’’ or the ‘‘INFLUENCE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Schools in the United States, especially in10 stitutions of higher education overseeing either senVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7842.IH H7842

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1 sitive research or critical military technology sys2 tems, have provided a level of access to the Chinese 

3 government that the Chinese government has re4 fused to provide to the United States. 

5 (2) China’s control over the flow of information 

6 means the American people have an incomplete pic7 ture of Chinese government actions and policies that 

8 run counter to the interest of the United States at 

9 home and abroad. 

10 (3) In the last 15 years, the Chinese govern11 ment has opened over 100 Confucius Institutes on 

12 college and university campuses in the United States 

13 to increase their cultural standing in popular cul14 ture. While there are currently more than 500 Con15 fucius Institutes worldwide, the United States has 

16 more Confucius Institutes than any other country. 

17 (4) Federal Government officials have expressed 

18 concerns about Confucius Institutes. Christopher 

19 Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investiga20 tion, testified that the FBI is ‘‘watching warily’’ 

21 Confucius Institutes and ‘‘in certain instances have 

22 developed appropriate investigative steps’’. 

23 (5) The Department of Education has not con24 ducted regular oversight of the compliance of institu25 tions of higher education with foreign gift reporting 


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1 requirements and, until recently, has failed to ade2 quately enforce the requirements of section 117 of 

3 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (relating to dis4 closures of foreign gifts). The Department of Edu5 cation maintains a database detailing the reporting 

6 of foreign gifts received by institutions, but relies 

7 solely on the institutions to self-report gifts. 

8 (6) The Department of Education is updating 

9 the reporting requirements applicable to institutions 

10 of higher education. Previously, the Department of 

11 Education had not issued guidance on foreign gift 

12 reporting by institutions of higher education since 

13 2004. As a result, institution’s informed Congress 

14 that the reporting requirements were unclear and 

15 confusing. Institutions also informed Congress that 

16 the Department of Education website used to report 

17 foreign gifts was dated and difficult to use. 

18 (7) Absent full transparency regarding how 

19 Confucius Institutes operate and full reciprocity for 

20 the cultural outreach efforts of the United States on 

21 college campuses in China, Confucius Institutes 

22 should not continue in the United States unchecked 

23 or unsupervised. 


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1 SEC. 3. ENHANCED DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN FOREIGN 

2 GIFTS AND CONTRACTS. 

3 Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 

5 (1) by amending subseciton (a) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE REPORT.—An institution shall file 

8 a disclosure report with the Secretary on January 31 or 

9 July 31, whichever is sooner, whenever one or more of the 

10 following occurs: 

11 ‘‘(1) The institution is owned or controlled by 

12 a foreign source. 

13 ‘‘(2) The institution receives a gift from or en14 ters into a contract with a foreign source determined 

15 by the Secretary to be acting directly or indirectly 

16 on behalf of a foreign government that is adversarial 

17 to the United States, regardless of the value of the 

18 gift or contract. 

19 ‘‘(3) The institution receives a gift from or en20 ters into a contract with a foreign source not de21 scribed in paragraph (2), the value of which is— 

22 ‘‘(A) $50,000 considered alone; or 

23 ‘‘(B) $100,000 or more in combination 

24 with all other gifts from or contracts with that 

25 foreign source within a calendar year.’’; 


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1 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC INSPECTION.—Subject to para5 graph (4), all disclosure reports required by this sec6 tion shall be public records open to inspection and 

7 copying during business hours. 

8 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION BY DEPARTMENT OF EDU9 CATION.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 

10 enactment of the INFLUENCE Act, and on an an11 nual basis thereafter, the Secretary of Education 

12 shall make available, on a publicly accessible website 

13 of the Department of Education, a database of the 

14 information disclosed to the Secretary under this 

15 section during the preceding year. 

16 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION BY INSTITUTIONS.—Not 

17 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

18 the INFLUENCE Act, and on an annual basis 

19 thereafter, each institution that receives a gift or en20 ters into a contract described in subsection (a) shall 

21 make available, on a publicly accessible website of 

22 the institution— 

23 ‘‘(A) in the case of a gift described in such 

24 subsection, a detailed explanation of the gift, 

25 including the amount of the gift, identification 


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1 of the source of the gift, and any conditions or 

2 restrictions on the gift; and 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of a contract described in 

4 such subsection, a complete and accurate copy 

5 of the contract. 

6 ‘‘(4) RESTRICTION ON PUBLICATION OF SEN7 SITIVE INFORMATION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Information made 

9 publicly available under this section shall not 

10 include information that is determined by an in11 stitution to be confidential, proprietary, or oth12 erwise prohibited from disclosure by law. 

13 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.—If the 

14 Secretary determines that an institution of 

15 higher education willfully or negligently dis16 closed information that is confidential, propri17 etary, or otherwise prohibited from disclosure 

18 by law in violation of subparagraph (A), the 

19 Secretary may declare such institution ineligible 

20 to participate in programs authorized under 

21 title IV of this Act.’’; and 

22 (3) in subsection (f)(2), by inserting before the 

23 period at the end the following: ‘‘, in addition to any 

24 other amounts as determined appropriate by the 

25 Secretary of Education’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN SENSITIVE PROJECTS. 

2 The Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 

3 et seq.) is further amended by inserting after section 117 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 117a. REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN FOREIGN CON6 TRACTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN SENSITIVE

8 PROJECTS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In a case in which an insti10 tution enters into a contract with a foreign indi11 vidual under which the individual will participate in 

12 a sensitive project— 

13 ‘‘(A) the institution shall disclose to the 

14 Secretary— 

15 ‘‘(i) the date on which individual is 

16 expected to return to their home country; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(ii) and the name of the country to 

19 which the individual is expected to return; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) such contract shall provide— 

22 ‘‘(i) that the individual may not dis23 close information derived from such project 

24 to a foreign government or any other for25 eign entity; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) that the penalties for disclosure 

2 of such information shall be the cancella3 tion of the contract and a requirement to 

4 reimburse the Federal Government as de5 scribed in paragraph (2). 

6 ‘‘(2) LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE.—A foreign 

7 individual who knowingly or willfully discloses infor8 mation in violation of a contract under paragraph 

9 (1) shall be required to reimburse the Federal Gov10 ernment for the full costs of any investigation or ad11 ministrative action resulting from such violation, in 

12 addition to any other amounts as determined appro13 priate by the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(b) CHINA-AFFILIATED CULTURAL OR LANGUAGE

15 PROGRAM.—In a case in which an institution enters into 

16 a contract with an individual or entity under which a 

17 China-affiliated cultural or language program will be al18 lowed to operate at the institution, such contract— 

19 ‘‘(1) shall include a provision protecting aca20 demic freedom at the institution; and 

21 ‘‘(2) shall not include any provision that would 

22 limit the rights of an individual under the Constitu23 tion of the United States. 

24 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) The term ‘China-affiliated cultural or lan2 guage program’ means any project, program, or 

3 other activity that— 

4 ‘‘(A) seeks to familiarize students with 

5 Chinese language or culture; and 

6 ‘‘(B) is directly or indirectly funded by the 

7 Government of the People’s Republic of China. 

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘sensitive project’ means any 

9 project, program, or other activity carried out by an 

10 institution— 

11 ‘‘(A) that is funded, in whole or in part, by 

12 Federal funds; and 

13 ‘‘(B) for which a security clearance is re14 quired as a condition of participation.’’. 

15 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION ON ENFORCEMENT 

16 OF FOREIGN GIFT AND CONTRACT REQUIRE17 MENTS. 

18 The Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 

19 et seq.) is further amended by inserting after section 117a 

20 (as added by section 4) the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 117b. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION ON ENFORCE22 MENT OF FOREIGN GIFT AND CONTRACT RE23 QUIREMENTS. 

24 ‘‘(a) NOTIFICATION OF VIOLATIONS.—The Secretary 

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1 priate Federal agencies of any violation of section 117 or 

2 section 117a. 

3 ‘‘(b) CONSIDERATION OF ENFORCEMENT ACTION.— 

4 After receiving notice of a violation under subsection (a), 

5 the head of the Federal agency that received such notice 

6 shall determine— 

7 ‘‘(1) whether such violation constitutes a viola8 tion of a provision of law over which the agency has 

9 enforcement authority; and 

10 ‘‘(2) if such a violation occurred, whether to 

11 pursue an enforcement action against the individual 

12 or entity responsible for the violation.’’. 

13 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

14 Section 636 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

15 U.S.C. 1132–5) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 636. REPORT ON FOREIGN AND NATIONAL SECURITY 

17 ISSUES AFFECTING INSTITUTIONS OF HIGH18 ER EDUCATION. 

19 ‘‘(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—On an annual basis, the 

20 Secretary of Education, in consultation and collaboration 

21 with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the 

22 Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, 

23 and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall 

24 submit to the authorizing committees a report on foreign 


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1 and national security issues affecting institutions of higher 

2 education. 

3 ‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 

4 shall include— 

5 ‘‘(1) identification of areas of national need in 

6 foreign language, area, and international studies as 

7 such studies relate to government, education, busi8 ness, and nonprofit needs and a plan to address 

9 those needs; 

10 ‘‘(2) a description of any risks associated with 

11 allowing foreign students and other foreign individ12 uals at institutions of higher education to access 

13 classified information, protected intellectual prop14 erty, research and development information, and 

15 military technology critical to the national security 

16 of the United States; 

17 ‘‘(3) best practices that may be implemented by 

18 the Department of Education, the Department of 

19 Defense, and other Federal agencies with respon20 sibilities relating to national security to strengthen 

21 the secrecy of grants, projects, and contracts that 

22 involve providing foreign individuals at institutions 

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1 ment actions to respond to the misuse of such infor2 mation; 

3 ‘‘(4) a description of the ongoing efforts of Fed4 eral law enforcement organizations, including the 

5 Federal Bureau of Investigation, to address the theft 

6 of sensitive information by adversarial foreign ac7 tors; and 

8 ‘‘(5) a summary of any information from na9 tional security-related projects at institutions of 

10 higher education that was stolen, misused, or wrong11 fully disclosed during the period covered by the re12 port and any actions taken to remedy the theft, mis13 use, or disclosure of such information. 

14 ‘‘(c) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report under sub15 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

16 may include a classified annex. 

17 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of Edu18 cation shall make each report under subsection (a) avail19 able on a publicly accessible website of the Department 

20 of Education, except no report published on such website 

21 shall contain classified information.’’. 

Æ 


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