Rep. Lance Gooden introduced a bill that would expose Russian and Chinese funding of American think tanks and nonprofits. The “Think Tank and Nonprofit Foreign Influence Disclosure Act,” introduced Thursday, would require nonprofits and think tanks to disclose foreign donations over $50,000. It would also require the Treasury Department to make “publicly available in a […]
Rep. Lance Gooden introduced a bill that would expose Russian and Chinese funding of American think tanks and nonprofits.
The “Think Tank and Nonprofit Foreign Influence Disclosure Act,” introduced Thursday, would require nonprofits and think tanks to disclose foreign donations over $50,000.
It would also require the Treasury Department to make “publicly available in a searchable database information relating to such gifts and contributions received from foreign governments and political parties.”
“Foreign governments and foreign political parties attempt to influence the government and political system of the United States through donations to nonprofit charitable organizations, especially think tanks and cultural organizations,” the bill reads. “While institutions of higher learning are required to disclose foreign gifts to the Department of Education pursuant to the Higher Education Act, no such requirement exists for think tanks.”
As reported by Just the News, the new legislation points to a 2019 report from the Center for a New American Security, which reads: “A number of U.S. universities, academic departments, individual scholars, think tanks, and other civil society organizations receive substantial funding from Beijing that is often targeted at shaping views and discourse on China.”
“Higher degrees of transparency can help to ensure that this funding is not generating hidden forms of foreign lobbying, self-censorship, or other activities that undermine core U.S. democratic principles,” the report continues. “To that end, the U.S. government should significantly lower the funding cap that triggers a requirement for U.S. institutions to disclose these foreign contributions. Concurrently, Congress should also expand the reach of the Foreign Agents Registration Act to require universities to set standards and limits for student organizations and cultural exchange institutions that rely on external, especially foreign government, sources of funding.”
“President Biden is beholden to a cabal of radical environmentalists who are actively working to undermine our national security,” Gooden said. “Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden must put our national security ahead of their Green New Deal agenda and investigate these organizations and their ties to Russia.”
