Foreign Influence Transparency Act
Latest action · May 18, 2021 Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMar 3, 2021
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Foreign Influence Transparency Act
This bill addresses foreign influence in higher education and in certain other academic, religious, and artistic pursuits.
Current law exempts from foreign agent registration requirements a person engaging in activities in furtherance of religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or of the fine arts. The bill specifies that this exemption applies only to those activities that do not promote the political agenda of a foreign government.
Under current law, an institution of higher education (IHE) must disclose to the Department of Education (ED) a gift or contract that is from a foreign source and is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with the foreign source. The bill instead requires an IHE to disclose such a gift or contract that is valued at $50,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts or contracts. An IHE must include in its disclosure report the contents of any such contract and make the contents available for public disclosure.
Additionally, an IHE that enters into an agreement with a Confucius Institute (i.e., a cultural institute directly or indirectly funded by the Chinese government) must immediately make available the full text of the agreement to the public, ED, and Congress.
Finally, the bill prohibits an IHE that does not comply with these disclosure requirements from enrolling foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Cosponsors 34
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 3, 2021 to Mar 18, 2021, with 30 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-MD | Andy Harris | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-OH | Anthony Gonzalez | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-GA | Barry Loudermilk | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-MI | Bill Huizenga | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-FL | Bill Posey | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-OH | Bob Gibbs | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-TX | Brian Babin | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-FL | Brian J. Mast | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-NC | Dan Bishop | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-CA | Darrell Issa | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-NC | David Rouzer | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-CO | Doug Lamborn | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-NY | Elise M. Stefanik | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-FL | Gus M. Bilirakis | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
| R-TX | John R. Carter | Original | Mar 3, 2021 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 18, 2021Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
- Mar 3, 2021Introduced in House
- Mar 3, 2021Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 577 | Foreign Influence Transparency Act | Identical bill | Mar 3, 2021 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: International Affairs.
- Art, artists, authorship
- Asia
- China
- Congressional oversight
- Cultural exchanges and relations
- General science and technology matters
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Higher education
- International Affairs
- International exchange and broadcasting
- International organizations and cooperation
- Performing arts
- Public participation and lobbying
- Religion
- Teaching, teachers, curricula
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 3, 2021Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.