WASHINGTON – Today the Senate unanimously passed the Concerns Over Nations Funding University Campus Institutes in the United States (CONFUCIUS) Act. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced the legislation to address concerns about Confucius Institutes’ suppressing free speech on American college campuses. 

“Confucius Institutes are under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in all but name. They are propaganda centers thatthreaten academic liberty and free speech without shame, and too many American schools are falling victim to the political con every day. This bill would give colleges and universities full control over their resident Confucius Institutes and restore freedom of thought on their campuses. The Senate passed the CONFUCIUS Act unanimously just months ago, and it is good news for students and educators that my colleagues did the same again today. I hope the House joins us in sending the CONFUCIUS Act to the president’s desk,” said Kennedy.

At universities across the U.S., the Chinese government is waging an influence war through its Confucius Institutes. Though ostensibly designed to promote cultural studies on college campuses, Confucius Institutes receive direct funding from the Chinese government.

The CONFUCIUS Act reduces the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on U.S. colleges and universities by granting full managerial authority over Confucius Institutes to the universities that host them. 

Specifically, the CONFUCIUS Act provides that Confucius Institutes must:

• Protect academic freedom on the campus where the Confucius Institute is located,
• Prohibit the application of any foreign law on any campus of the institution, and
• Grant full control over what a Confucius Institute teaches, the activities it carries out, the research grants it gives and the individuals it employs to the college or university on which it is located.

This bill would prohibit federal government funding to colleges and universities that host Confucius Institutes and are not in compliance with the above provisions. The funding prohibition would only apply to funding directed to the college or university and would not include funding disbursed to students, such as Pell Grants.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) have cosponsored the legislation.

The Senate twice passed the legislation unanimously in the 116^th Congress.

Background:

• According to the nonpartisan National Association of Scholars, there are at least 55 Confucius Institutes on U.S. soil, 48 of which are on university or college campuses.
• In May 2020, the College Republican National Committee and the College Democrats of America wrote a joint letter calling for the “immediate and permanent closure of all Confucius Institutes in the United States” due to their “concerns over the present state of academic freedom” and “the continued exploitation of liberal, democratic academic institutions by authoritarians.”
• These institutes can threaten universities by withholding funding in order to achieve their objectives, such as regulating speech the Chinese government opposes. Universities forced to choose between losing funding or upholding free speech are often tempted to yield to an institution funded by a foreign government over the interests of free speech. This allows foreign governments like China’s Communist Party to exert influence over American schools (such as prohibiting the Dalai Lama from speaking on a campus) and even apply Chinese Communist laws on U.S. soil.

The bill text is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) today introduced the Fair Access to Banking Act, which would prevent discrimination by banks and financial service providers against Constitutionally-protected industries and law-abiding businesses. The bill builds off the Trump Administration’s Fair Access Rule.

“Banking isn’t a red versus blue battleground. Law-abiding Americans should have access to financial services regardless of political position. The Fair Access to Banking Act would ensure that banks rely on impartial risk assessments—rather than politicized discrimination—when providing their services. If banks want to become advocacy groups that ignore the Constitutional protections of their clients, they would be breaking the law,” said Kennedy. 

“Fairness matters. There is no place in our society for discrimination, and big banks are no exception. Financial service providers do not have the right to circumvent the Constitution or the law to create de-facto bans on legally-compliant businesses like energy producers or firearms manufacturers when they believe it is politically convenient. Our legislation makes it illegal to do so and imposes serious consequences on those who choose to violate the law,” said Cramer. 

The need for this legislation is driven by the recent actions of some of the largest U.S. banks that are using their economic standing to discriminate against energy producers. Last year, five of the country’s largest banks announced they will not provide loans or credit to support oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge even though Congress explicitly authorized it. Last fall, JPMorgan Chase declared it would refuse financial services to coal producers, and Bank of America began a politically-motivated effort to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from its financing activities by 2050, an effort directly targeting producers of reliable American energy.  

Discrimination by financial service providers also extends to industries protected by the Second Amendment, with banks like Capital One including “ammunitions, firearms, or firearm parts” in its prohibited payments section, and payment services like Apple Pay and PayPal denying their services for transactions involving firearms or ammunition.

In response to these developments, the Trump Administration created the Fair Access Rule—which this legislation would codify—to prevent these and other acts of discrimination, but President Joe Biden has paused the rule’s implementation. 

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) have also cosponsored this legislation.

The bill has a wide array of industry support, including endorsements from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Independent Petroleum Association of America, National Rifle Association, Kentucky Coal Association, Lignite Energy Council, National Mining Association, National Association of Wholesale Distributors and the Day 1 Alliance.

WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) today introduced legislation that would prohibit the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) from providing loans to individuals and companies that are delinquent on repaying their tax debt.  

“American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize businesses that haven’t even paid their own taxes, and I’m proud to work with Sen. Braun to bring accountability to the Export-Import Bank,” said Kennedy.

“The Export-Import Bank should not serve as an ATM for tax delinquents and this legislation will address this loophole, while also rooting out potential fraud from dozens of companies,” said Braun. 

The EXIM Bank currently requires companies applying for certain financing to self-certify that they do not have delinquent federal debt. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) analyzed federal data and identified billions of dollars in authorized EXIM transactions associated with dozens of companies that may have fraudulently applied for financing.

The GAO found that:

• Federal law states that applicants who are delinquent on federal debts may not receive federal direct loans, loan guarantees or loan insurance until the delinquent debt is satisfactorily resolved. 
• Financial pressures potentially incentivize participants or employees to commit fraud on applications to use EXIM.
• Using data from the System for Award Management (SAM), GAO found that, from calendar years 2014 through 2016, EXIM authorized transactions with an aggregate authorization value of about $1.7 billion that were associated with 32 U.S.-based companies that had a delinquent federal debt indicator in SAM in the same month that EXIM authorized these transactions.

EXIM concurred with GAO’s recommendation that the bank should use available data instead of self-certification to prevent companies with delinquent federal debt from obtaining EXIM financing.

As a result of these findings, this legislation would ensure that:

• EXIM could use SAM data and data-analytical approaches to detect applicants and participants with potentially delinquent federal debt and work with the Internal Revenue Service to confirm delinquencies. 
• Companies that have fraudulently certified that they do not have federal debt would lose access to EXIM financing, and EXIM would deny applicants holding such federal debt. 
• The president could waive the prohibition if the president determines that the work being carried out by an entity with delinquent federal debt significantly affects U.S. interests. 
• Debt that is being repaid in a timely manner is not considered to be seriously delinquent federal debt.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Linemen Legacy Act to revise the Department of Homeland Security’s definition of “emergency response providers” to include utility line technicians.

The definition in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 grants first-responder status to an array of occupations such as law enforcement, emergency public safety personnel and fire and medical rescuers, but does not currently include utility linemen. 

“We saw the work utility linemen did to repair Louisiana’s electrical grid after Hurricanes Laura and Delta hit our state, and we’re seeing these servants back in action sooner than we thought. As ice storms fell on our state and took lines down with them, linemen were often first on the scene to make neighborhoods safe again. They save homes, businesses and lives. Simply put, linemen are first responders, so my bill would legally add utility line technicians to Homeland Security’s list of first-responder occupations. I hope my colleagues join me in giving these heroes the recognition they deserve by moving this bill forward,” said Kennedy.

This February, winter storms wreaked havoc across the state, leaving thousands of Louisianians without power and scattering live wires around residential areas. Hurricanes Laura and Delta also destroyed thousands of Louisiana’s utility poles, lines and substations last fall, particularly in the southwest portion of the state.

Kennedy also introduced the bill in the 116^th Congress, and video of the senator’s statement is available here.