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EXCLUSIVE: Three bills are officially set to be considered on the House floor that all aim to crack down against the Chinese Communist Party's influence on the education system in the United States and Fox News Digital spoke to a top House Republican about their potential impact.
The three pieces of legislation, H.R.s 1005, 1049, and 1069, come after years of concerns about the CCP's growing influence inside educational institutions in the United States, highlighted by the arrest of Chinese nationals who allegedly smuggled dangerous biological materials into the country under the guise of university research.
"China wants to influence what American students learn in classrooms from kindergarten through college," Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar exclusively told Fox News Digital.
"These commonsense bills will protect them from Chinese propaganda and shine a light on how China tries to influence our education system. The CCP would love to stop Americans from learning about its horrific Cultural Revolution, its slaughter of innocent students at Tiananmen Square, its genocide of Uyghurs, and its authoritarian plans for the future. These bills will empower parents and prohibit China’s influence in our classrooms so American students can learn the truth about the CCP."
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H.R.1069, known as the Promoting Responsible Oversight To Eliminate Communist Teachings for Our Kids Act or the PROTECT Our Kids Act, is sponsored by GOP Rep. Kevin Hern and prohibits federal funding going to any elementary or secondary school that receives financial support, directly or indirectly, from the Chinese government, including the Confucius Institute.
"The CCP’s malign influence in our educational institutions is a serious and growing threat," Hern said in a press release. "Today’s students are our future leaders, and we must ensure their learning environments are free from anti-American, foreign influence. I look forward to the passage of my PROTECT Our Kids Act this week so we can put an end to CCP money and propaganda infiltrating our K-12 schools and protect our children."
Another bill, H.R.1049, is sponsored by GOP Rep. Aaron Bean and is known as the Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education Act or the TRACE Act.
The legislation requires each local educational agency to notify parents of their right to request and receive information regarding foreign influence in schools as a condition of those schools receiving federal and secondary education funds.
"American schools are for education, not espionage," Bean said earlier this week. "Yet this is what happens when our institutions of learning accept the Trojan horse of foreign funding. The TRACE Act puts parents back in charge, exposes foreign influence for what it is, and slams the door on hostile nations trying to reach America’s youth."
The third bill, H.R. 1105, is known as the Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act or the CLASS Act and is sponsored by GOP Rep. David Joyce.
"This bill prohibits public elementary and secondary schools, as a condition of receiving federal elementary and secondary education funds, from accepting funds from or entering into a contract with the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or any individual or entity acting on behalf of the Chinese government or the CCP," the bill's summary explains.
"The bill also requires schools to disclose funding from or contracts with a foreign source to the Department of Education."
Fox News Digital has extensively reported on concerns about alleged attempts by the CCP to infiltrate American classrooms, including in 2023 when Parents Defending Education uncovered disturbing evidence linking CCP-sponsored financial entities to American K-12 schools.
Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported on findings at Stanford University, where the school's newspaper found evidence suggesting Chinese assets have likely infiltrated the prestigious institution and other universities nationwide to gather intelligence.
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