Schools lose school money if they have China ties.
H.R. 1069 — PROTECT Our Kids Act · Filed by Kevin Hern (R-OK) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 6, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill stops school money from going to schools that work with China groups. This includes Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms. Schools that have these ties now can ask for a one-year waiver. They must show the tie helps their school and keeps the U.S. safe. The rule starts one year after the law passes.
Who it affects
Students in schools with China ties lose school money. This cuts money for teaching, buildings, and services. Schools in poor or rural areas may hurt more because they need school money most.
One thing to notice
The bill cuts money to students and schools instead of stopping the China groups. Schools have one year to end the ties, which may not be enough time.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Independents, 1 Republicans.
- Feb 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
- Feb 12, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Feb 12, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 21 - 13”
- Dec 4, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 247 - 164 (Roll no. 313). (text: CR H5032)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Dec 2025 to Dec 2025.
Those reports show $290,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 89 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Kevin Hern, who sponsored the bill, received $2,133,251 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Fdd Action — $290,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- school money — Cash the U.S. gives to schools.
- Confucius Institutes — Centers that teach China language and culture, run by China.
- waiver — Permission to skip a rule for one year if a school meets certain needs.
- China groups — Groups that are run by or tied to the China government.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,064 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,928 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-03.
“Schools lose school money if they have China ties.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1069/simple Report an error
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