To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to strengthen disclosure requirements relating to foreign gifts and contracts, to prohibit contracts between institutions of higher education and certain foreign entities and countries of concern, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The DETERRENT Act rewrites foreign-funding disclosure rules for colleges and universities under the Higher Education Act. Institutions must report foreign gifts and contracts of $50,000 or more, report all gifts from foreign countries or entities of concern regardless of value, treat gifts and contracts to affiliated entities as institutional transactions, and keep unredacted contracts for federal investigation. It also bars contracts with foreign countries or entities of concern unless the Education Secretary grants a one-year waiver, requires faculty and staff foreign gift and contract disclosure policies, requires searchable public institutional databases, and adds investment-of-concern reporting for specified institutions.
Who Benefits and How
The Department of Education, its General Counsel, DOJ, congressional oversight committees, research-security officials, students, parents, federal taxpayers, and national-security policymakers gain more detailed information about foreign money, restricted gifts, foreign-government contracts, faculty and staff foreign relationships, Confucius Institute-type relationships, and investments tied to countries or entities of concern. The bill gives Education and DOJ civil enforcement tools, compliance-officer accountability, publication requirements, and contract-waiver controls.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Universities receiving foreign gifts or contracts, affiliated foundations, faculty and staff at covered institutions, compliance officers, endowment managers, Confucius Institute-related programs, foreign governments, and foreign entities of concern face new reporting, database, record-retention, waiver, certification, translation, and contract-termination burdens. Noncompliant institutions can be sued by DOJ at the Education Secretary's request, forced to pay investigation and enforcement costs, and fined at least $50,000 or the value of undisclosed gifts or contracts for certain section 117 violations.
Key Provisions
- Requires July 31 foreign gift and contract reports for $50,000-or-more transactions and for all gifts or waived contracts involving foreign countries or entities of concern.
- Treats affiliated-entity gifts and contracts as institutional gifts and contracts, and requires contract purpose, value, dates, restrictions, foreign-source identity, and unredacted contract retention.
- Prohibits contracts with foreign countries and entities of concern unless the Education Secretary grants a one-year waiver based on institutional mission, student benefit, and U.S. security and economic-vitality findings.
- Requires faculty and staff foreign gift and contract policies, July 31 reports, searchable institutional databases, and full text for zero-dollar or indeterminate-value contracts with countries or entities of concern.
- Requires specified institutions to report investments of concern, including direct and indirect holdings through pooled funds when not certified clean.
- Authorizes Education General Counsel investigations, DOJ civil actions, compliance-cost recovery, civil fines, compliance officers, publication rules, and a single federal point of contact.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Rewrites Higher Education Act section 117 to require more detailed foreign gift, contract, faculty, staff, and investment disclosures; bars college contracts with foreign countries or entities of concern unless waived; and creates investigations, civil actions, fines, compliance-officer duties, and public reporting.
Key Policy Areas
Higher Education, National Security, Government Oversight, Foreign Influence
Primary Purpose
Rewrites Higher Education Act section 117 to require more detailed foreign gift, contract, faculty, staff, and investment disclosures; bars college contracts with foreign countries or entities of concern unless waived; and creates investigations, civil actions, fines, compliance-officer duties, and public reporting.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Department of Education
- Department of Justice
- Congressional oversight committees
- Research-security officials
- Students at covered institutions
- Federal taxpayers
- National-security policymakers
Identified Costs
- Universities receiving foreign funding
- Affiliated university foundations
- Faculty and staff at covered institutions
- Institutional compliance officers
- University endowment managers
- Foreign entities of concern
- Confucius Institute-related programs
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Additional sponsors: Mr. Onder, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mr. Baumgartner (for himself, Mr. Messmer, Mr. Owens, Mr. Allen, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Affiliated university foundations, Faculty at covered institutions, Institutional compliance officers
Positive-direction: Students at covered institutions
Negative-direction: Affiliated university foundations, Faculty at covered institutions, Institutional compliance officers, Major research universities, Noncompliant universities, Related university organizations, Universities receiving foreign funding, Universities with foreign-country contracts, University compliance offices, University staff with foreign contracts
Congressional oversight committees, Department of Education, Department of Education General Counsel
Department of Education faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight committees, Research-security officials
Negative-direction: Department of Education General Counsel, Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission
Pooled investment fund managers, University endowment managers
Foreign countries of concern, Foreign governments funding universities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "section_117"
- → Higher Education Act foreign gift and contract disclosure requirement
- "investment_of_concern"
- → A direct or indirect institutional investment tied to covered foreign countries or entities of concern
- "foreign_entity_of_concern"
- → A foreign entity category triggering zero-dollar reporting and contract restrictions
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology