Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is introducing a bill called the No Federal Funding for CCP Spying and Persuasion in Education Settings Act, or SPIES Act, which aims to close the loopholes in the Biden administration’s guidance. The guidance still allows Department of Defense (DOD) funding to go to universities with Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked Confucius Institutes. The new legislation would expand the prohibition on funding for international institutions of higher education that host Confucius Institutes and remove the ability to waive the prohibition through the Confucius Institute Waiver Program (CIWP). Furthermore, starting this Oct. 1, the DOD cannot fund any U.S. institution of higher education hosting a Confucius Institute unless that institution applied for a waiver from the secretary of defense. The SPIES Act intends to amend the NDAA to remove the waivers and expand the prohibition to include U.S. higher education institutions abroad.
Banks and Rubio Proposing Complete Prohibition of Pentagon Funding for Schools that Host Confucius Institutes Tied to CCP
