JTA — The US Congress advanced a bill that requires universities to report more of their foreign funding, a priority of Jewish groups concerned about influence from Israel’s adversaries.
The DETERRENT Act passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 241-169, with more than 30 Democrats joining nearly all Republicans to support the bill. It will now head to the Senate.
While the legislation was championed by pro-Israel activists, Michigan Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, a harsh Israel critic, also unsuccessfully sought to use it to advance her goals: She introduced two amendments to the bill that would have increased scrutiny of donations from, and investments in, Israel. Both were rejected by large bipartisan majorities.
The bill — an acronym for Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act — lowered the threshold for reporting gifts from most foreign countries from $250,000 to $50,000. It received support from Jewish organizations including AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), which are concerned that money from countries such as Qatar and Iran are funding anti-Israel messaging on campuses.
“It’s unacceptable that Qatar’s regime – the same one that offers shelter and protection to top Hamas terrorists – has been able to pour billions into places like Yale, Georgetown, and Cornell – much of it undisclosed,” the RJC wrote in a press release.
One of Tlaib’s proposed amendments sought to include Israel in a classification of countries referenced as “foreign country of concern.” For those countries — including Iran, Russia, China and North Korea — there is a reporting requirement for all gifts and contracts.
The other amendment proposed by Tlaib would have required schools to disclose any investments made in Israel.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protests during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/AFP)
Both were rejected with over 400 “no” votes. The Jewish Federations of North America praised that outcome, calling Tlaib’s proposals “amendments that sought to undermine this legislation.”
Schools that don’t comply with the new reporting requirements could lose federal funding.
In 2023, several umbrella groups for colleges and universities advocated against the legislation in a letter to Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, saying it could hinder international collaboration.
“While we understand the concern regarding foreign funding to US institutions of higher education is bipartisan, we believe the DETERRENT Act is duplicative of existing interagency efforts, unnecessary, and puts in place a problematic expansion of the data collection by the US Department of Education that will broadly curtail important needed international research collaboration and academic and cultural exchanges,” the letter read.
Republican Representative Tim Walberg, of Michigan, speaks before Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena, November 4, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
In a statement Thursday, Representative Tim Walberg — a Michigan Republican and the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee who introduced the act alongside Representative Michael Baumgartner — cited concerns over “antisemitic propaganda” as well as Chinese government influence.
“The lack of transparency around foreign relationships with our nation’s universities should concern every American as we see stolen research, antisemitic propaganda, and academic censorship,” said Walberg in the statement.
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