On Thursday, March 27th, the US House of Representatives voted 241-169 to pass the DETERRENT (Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions) Act (H.R. 1048). The act proposes modifications to Section 117 reporting, adds extensive new faculty and staff foreign gift reporting requirements, and requires that a waiver be obtained from the Department of Education for any contract entered into with a country of concern.

Prior to the vote, the Association of American Universities (AAU) sent a letter to House leadership outlining their opposition to the bill. In the letter, AAU President Barbara Snyder expresses that “as currently proposed, section 117a, 117b, 117c, and 117d in the bill are unhelpful to advancing the national and research security interests of the United States. Indeed, the new faculty and staff gift reporting requirement for any and all countries is excessive, will prove counterproductive, and divert important university resources away from more valuable and focused efforts to address legitimate research security risks.” Along with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, (APLU), AAU also signed on to an American Council on Education-led letter expressing the higher education community’s concerns. The research university community will continue to seek changes to the bill as it moves through the Senate.

In the House, the Oregon delegation split along party lines, with US Representatives Bonamici, Bynum, Dexter, Hoyle, and Salinas voting against, and US Representative Bentz voting for the bill. 

On April 4th, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced a new version of the DETERRENT Act, which differs from the House-passed version. A one-pager to accompany the bill text was published by Senator Tillis’ office.

The new bill removes the House’s Section 117c, which requires expanded reporting on private university endowments with investments in entities or countries of concern. It also slightly modifies Section 117b to protect faculty privacy when reporting foreign gifts or contracts, but there are still questions about whether the names of individuals could be protected under state transparency laws.

HELP Committee staff have not yet indicated a timeline for a markup.