Congress ties college funding to severing Chinese research ties
S. 1694 — DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act · Filed by Rick Scott (R-FL) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced May 8, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill bars U.S. colleges and universities from receiving Department of Homeland Security funding if they maintain relationships (contracts, agreements, donations) with Confucius Institutes or Chinese universities involved in military research, defense work, or support for Chinese government security agencies. Schools must sever these ties within 12 months of the law's enactment to remain eligible for DHS grants.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward eligibility restriction: DHS funding conditioned on severing ties with specified Chinese entities. It is framed as a national-security measure and operates transparently through a defined exclusion rule.
What the text implies
- May incentivize U.S. universities to terminate legitimate academic partnerships with Chinese institutions unrelated to military work, due to difficulty in verifying compliance with the 'military-civil fusion' definition.
- The definition of 'Chinese entity of concern' is broad and may capture universities with only tangential defense-sector connections, creating compliance uncertainty.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who it affects
The bill addresses legitimate national-security concerns about foreign military-linked entities operating on U.S. campuses, which may protect academic integrity and security.