Global Courant
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduce legislation that would close what they describe as loopholes in the Biden administration’s guidelines that still allow Department of Defense (DOD) funding to go to universities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) affiliated Confucius Institutes.
The No Federal Funding for CCP Spying and Persuasion in Education Settings Act, or SPIES Act, would expand the ban on funding for international higher education institutions hosting Confucius Institutes and remove the ability to lift the ban through the Confucius Institute Waiver Program (CIWP). ).
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 specified that as of Oct. 1, DOD is prohibited from funding any U.S. higher education institution that houses a Confucius Institute unless that institution applies for a waiver from the Secretary of Defense .
The SPIES Act would amend the NDAA to remove the waivers and extend the ban to U.S. higher education institutions abroad.
Representative Jim Banks, Secretary Lloyd Austin and Senator Marco Rubio (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“There is no situation where we should make it easier for the Chinese Communist Party to spy on our universities,” Banks said in a statement. “Protecting American research by ensuring that no DOD funds go to universities with Confucius Institutes is common sense and essential to our national security.”
“U.S. tax dollars should not benefit the CCP and its murderous regime,” Rubio added. “Confucius Institutes, which are led by Beijing, have been infesting college campuses in our country with CCP propaganda. There is no reason why the DOD should support these institutions.”
Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, at a hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Banks’ office said he submitted the bill Wednesday in the House and Rubio’s office said he plans to introduce his companion legislation in the Senate.
It comes after Banks sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in late April demanding answers about the DOD’s “inadequate guidance” for colleges seeking waivers to house Confucius Institutes on campus while still receiving federal funds from the Pentagon. received, which he says “undermines Congress”. intent in Section 1062 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021).”
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Banks wrote that in “Sec. 1062 of the FY2021 NDAA, Congress prohibited the DOD from providing any funding to any higher education institution hosting a Confucius Institute after October 1, 2023” and that the “prohibition followed a more restrictive provision in the FY2019 NDAA.”
“CIs act as agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on American campuses, spread party propaganda, monitor students and dissidents, and provide China with a launch pad for espionage against our country’s most valuable research and technology,” Banks warned.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is seen on the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. (CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
“Congress intended for the Sec. 1062 restriction to encourage the removal of all CIs from U.S. campuses and to remove the espionage threat that CIs pose to DOD-sponsored research and development (R&D),” he continued.
Banks pointed out that DOD’s March 28, 2023 guidelines “provide conditions under which a U.S. university can receive DOD funds without closing any on-campus Confucius institutions,” but while “the guidelines place some restrictions on CIs for colleges to get into to qualify for waivers, it also introduces significant loopholes and fails to take seriously the threat posed by CIs to national security.”
“The waivers that DOD grants to universities to continue working with CIs can, in theory, last indefinitely. According to the guidelines, DOD also relies on the host universities, which often want to keep their Confucius Institutes, to notify DOD of any changes to their contract with their CB before DOD reviews their waivers.The waivers guideline also requires universities with CIs to report the overseas travel of employees involved in R&D, but does not require overseas travel reporting for Confucius Institute employees.While the guidelines Restricting some Confucius Institute employees from accessing federally funded scientific data, it does not restrict CI employees from accessing this research if they are also employees of the host university.”
Banks wrote that the “guideline also does not address other loopholes related to the DOD funding of universities that host CIs” and that while “DOD places some restrictions on U.S. universities with CIs, DOD can continue to fund foreign universities with CIs without any new waiver process.”
“The guidance also declines to specify whether DOD will continue to pay contracts and grants awarded to universities with CIs that have not been granted an exemption after October 1, 2023,” Banks wrote. “Since many federal grants can last three to five years, that means DOD could be breaking the law by continuing to fund universities that failed even to complete the modest audits required by this directive.”
A plaque and flag hang outside the China Institute, home of the Confucius Institute, at 125 E 65th Street in New York, U.S., on Monday, November 26, 2007. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Banks denounced the guidelines because the DOD “bows to the wishes of academia and the scientific community to continue their deep ties with China, despite the growing threat of CCP propaganda and espionage” and that much “of the recent guidelines is derived from a DOD report earlier this year commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which called for such generous waivers to allow Confucius Institutes to continue operating on U.S. campuses.”
The DOD guidelines stating that the Office of the Department of the Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering Confucius Institute Waiver Program (CIWP) is responsible for considering and approving or denying waivers from any U.S. institution of higher education that houses a Confucius Institute and seeks a waiver of the prohibition on funding required by Section 1062 of the NDAA for FY 2021.”
The DOD directive recognizes that Confucius Institutes have ties to the communist Chinese government and that U.S. “institutions of higher education hosting an institution that meets the definition of a Confucius Institute may apply for an exemption from the CIWP.”
“A host institution applying for a waiver to the CIWP must provide a waiver application package to the CIWP containing the following: A letter signed by a senior official of the host institution requesting the waiver from the Secretary of Defense and confirming that the host institution complies meets the CIWP’s waiver criteria (listed in Section 3, below); The documentation required by the CIWP (also listed in Section 3, below); and Statement that the host institution will notify the DoD of any change in the contractual relationship between the Confucius Institute and the host institution.”
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Fox News Digital asked the Department of Defense how many institutions applied for the waivers, how many were approved and how many were denied, but it declined to answer.
Houston Keene and Caitlin McFall of Fox News Digital contributed to the reporting.
Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the Fox News and Fox Business political team. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
