DETERRENT Act

What this does

This bill rewrites the foreign-money rules for colleges and universities under the Higher Education Act. It lowers the reporting trigger for foreign gifts and contracts to $50,000 per foreign source in a calendar year, and requires schools to report any gift from a foreign country or entity of concern no matter how small. Congress bars institutions from entering contracts with a foreign country of concern or a foreign entity of concern, allowing only one-year waivers the Secretary of Education may grant. Reports must be posted in a public, searchable federal database and shared, unredacted, with the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, and the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Energy, plus the NSF and NIH. Large research institutions and Title VI recipients must require their faculty and staff to disclose foreign gifts and contracts. Private institutions holding more than $6 billion in assets and more than $250 million in investments tied to a foreign country or entity of concern must report those investments each year. The Secretary investigates violations and refers them to the Attorney General, who sues to compel compliance; institutions that lose face fines and pay the government's enforcement costs. An institution that loses three separate civil actions loses eligibility for federal student aid for at least two years. A foreign country of concern is defined by cross-reference to the covered nations in 10 U.S.C. 4872 and any additional country the Secretary designates.