A Republican bill that could severely restrict partnerships between American and Chinese universities passed the full US House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Wednesday, while policymakers also signalled interest in limits on other possible Chinese threats to US national security.
The bill, which would prevent US universities from receiving Department of Homeland Security funding if they “have a relationship” with certain Chinese universities, including those tied to China’s top science institute, advanced 266-153, with only Democrats voting against it.
It would need to pass the full Senate before it could be sent to US President Donald Trump for signing into law.
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“It’s been proven that the [Chinese Communist Party] does use programmes like Confucius Institutes not to build bridges or promote culture, as they may say, but to expand their influence inside the United States for malign purposes,” Representative August Pfluger, the Texas Republican who is the bill’s primary sponsor, said on the floor on Wednesday.
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, spoke in support of the bill but also warned of its potential overreach.
“House Democrats do not want to see legitimate academic activity between the United States and China hindered,” he said.
Pfluger’s bill follows numerous congressional efforts to decouple US-China educational cooperation because of national security concerns.
In March, Representative John Moolenaar, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent letters to Stanford and five other universities seeking information about their policies on Chinese nationals.
Already, several US academic research giants, including the University of Michigan and Georgia Tech, have responded to pressure from lawmakers by announcing plans to sever partnerships with Chinese institutions.
Pfluger’s bill would blacklist a broad array of Chinese universities from cooperation, including any that participate in China’s military industrial base or provide support to any security, defence, police or intelligence organisation in China.
The blacklist would also apply to Chinese universities that “purposely undermine” the US relationship with Taiwan as well as to any affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the country’s top institute for natural sciences.
Critics of the bill have raised concern that it would apply to virtually any Chinese university and thus affect US-China partnerships unrelated to national security. Thompson, for example, had joined 160 other Democrats in opposing an earlier version that lacked a waiver process.
The revised bill that advanced Wednesday includes a waiver process to let the Homeland Security secretary exempt US schools that show “robust safeguards and enforcement protocols to monitor the relationship” with the Chinese institution.
The waiver process would apply if the relationship is either found to be in the interest of national security or does not pose a security risk to the US or its allies.
Once a waiver is granted, the Homeland Security secretary would be required to notify Congress and provide a justification.
The earlier version of the bill passed the full House in September but did not become law before the end of the congressional session in January.
Democrats who previously voted against the bill have said that the waiver was crucial to garnering their support this time.
Still, not all were satisfied, with Representative Judy Chu, a California Democrat, saying the bill put an “unreasonable” burden on universities already facing pressure from the Trump administration.
“Universities are expected to ask for a waiver from the same administration that is continually threatening their federal funding and their tax-exempt status,” she said on the House floor.
“The real goal of the legislation is to completely sever academic relations with institutions in China,” she added.
Also on Wednesday, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told a House appropriations subcommittee that her department was working on a federal plan to limit Chinese ownership of US farmland.
The administration, she said, was finishing measures that would be announced “in the next couple of weeks” to complement restrictions already enacted by numerous states.
“We are building out the federal solution,” Rollins said, adding that it was needed to provide consistency across state lines and to reinforce existing laws. “It is a national security issue of the greatest priority.”
More than 20 states have passed legislation since early 2023 restricting foreign land ownership, often targeting Chinese nationals or companies.
Rollins said her department was working with governors in states like South Dakota, Arkansas and Virginia, where laws have already been passed to block foreign adversaries from buying agricultural land.
Supporters argued that the laws are necessary to protect food supply chains and limit foreign access near US military bases.
Opponents of the laws warn that they risk violating constitutional protections and might encourage discrimination. Several of the states are facing legal challenges.
A Florida statute that bans many Chinese citizens from buying property near sensitive sites is under federal court review. Plaintiffs argued it violated equal protection and due process rights – and is pre-empted by federal authority over foreign investment.
Federal data show that Chinese entities hold less than 0.03 per cent of all privately owned US farmland. But Rollins said the security implications of specific locations outweighed the numbers.
“Working with the states, ensuring they’re getting what they need to pass the legislation ... is of key importance,” she said.
During the hearing, Representative Dan Newhouse, Republican of Washington state, called Chinese farmland acquisitions “a really concerning trend” that had increased “substantially” over the past decade.
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