New Rubio bill prevents China from infiltrating American schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio filed legislation aiming to protect American schools against infiltration from the Chinese Communist Party.
“The integrity of our schools is one of the most basic guarantees that we should give to our students. Current federal policies to protect our students from adversaries are incomplete and disappointing,” Rubio said. “The U.S. is being infiltrated through its educational institutions. This bill aims to close those gaps, securing a robust defense against malign foreign influence in our classrooms.”
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott are cosponsors.
The “Protecting Education from Malign Foreign Influence Act” cracks down on school officials receiving foreign gifts, increases reporting requirements for schools that receive federal funds and prevents higher education institution staff from having relationships with specified “covered persons.”
“Covered persons” are defined in the proposal as any foreign person part of an adversary’s government, political party, or a member of China’s military, among other qualifications.
Those institutions would also need policies to bring any such relationships with those individuals to light and prevent new ones, such as links to undercover agents of American adversaries.
Named adversaries in the legislation include China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria.
The bill also directly names “Confucius Institutes” and aims to combat their influence on American education.
“It’s a universally accepted truth that Communist China is stealing U.S. technology and intellectual property from institutions of higher learning,” Rick Scott said. “We cannot allow the U.S. federal government to sit back and let this dangerous espionage happen.”
“Now is the time to take a stand against this madness, and I’m proud to join my colleagues in fighting to pass the Protecting Education from Malign Foreign Influence Act to better protect America’s colleges and universities,” he said.
Rubio’s office pointed to the senators’ prior efforts against China, such as in July filing anti-Chinese influence amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act.
