During a debate on the House floor last week, Rep. August Plfuger (R-TX) spoke in support of DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act or H.R.1516, a bill that restricts funding to higher education institutions that have a relationship with a Confucius Institute.
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00:00Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 377, I call up H.R. 881 and ask for its immediate
00:06consideration in the House. The Clerk will report the title of the bill. Union, Calendar
00:12number 62, H.R. 881, a bill to establish Department of Homeland Security funding restrictions on
00:18institutions of higher education that have a relationship with Confucius Institutes and for
00:24other purposes. Pursuant to House Resolution 377, in lieu of the amendment and the nature
00:31of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Homeland Security printed in the bill, an
00:36amendment and the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 119-2
00:44is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. The bill as amended shall be debatable
00:51for one hour, equally divided in control by the chair and the ranking minority member
00:56of the Committee on Homeland Security or their respective designees. The gentleman from Texas
01:02and the distinguished gentleman, Mr. Pflueger, and the gentleman from Mississippi, the distinguished
01:08young chairman, Mr. Thompson, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the distinguished
01:14gentleman from Texas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all members have five
01:19legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material
01:24on H.R. 881. With abject, the gentlemen recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield myself
01:31such time as I may consume. I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 881, the DHS restrictions on Confucius
01:39Institutes and Chinese entities of concern. I have long been concerned that the threats the
01:45Chinese Communist Party poses to our homeland are not only real, but they are right here.
01:51And in the Homeland Security Committee and on my Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence,
01:55we have heard from a wide variety of national security experts and law enforcement officials
02:00who have continuously raised alarms about the CCP's increasing subversive activities inside
02:06our country through organizations like the CCP's Confucius Institutes, the Thousand Talents Program,
02:12and other CCP-affiliated groups. While Confucius Institutes are presented as centers for promoting
02:19Chinese language and culture, it is proven that they have been used to steal critical research,
02:25recruit talent for military-civil fusion enterprises, conduct espionage, commit transnational repression,
02:33and influence academic institutions to the benefit of the CCP. At their peak, the United States hosted
02:40approximately 118 Confucius Institutes, primarily at colleges and universities. And now there are fewer
02:46than 14 active Confucius Institutes today, but the danger still remains. Many of these programs have
02:52rebranded themselves within universities with the same mission as before, and that is to subvert national
03:00security and expand CCP influence operations. Another example is the CCP's Thousand Talents Program,
03:07which the FBI has listed as the most prolific sponsor of state-sponsored talent recruitment programs
03:13that bring outside knowledge and innovation back to China, often through stealing trade secrets,
03:19breaking export control laws, or violating conflict of interest policies.
03:23These talent recruitment programs are a win-win for China. China wins twice. First, U.S. taxpayers are
03:30funding their research, not China, and second, China then uses the research it would not have otherwise had
03:37to advance its own economic and military interests. Today, we are debating HR 881, my legislation,
03:44which, by the way, is bipartisan, and that would prohibit DHS from funding American universities that host a
03:51Confucius Institute or Thousand Talents program or maintain relationships with the Chinese entities of
03:57concern. HR 881 also ensures that universities prioritize the education of their students over
04:03any of their partnerships with these institutions. This legislation passed the House last year with
04:09bipartisan support, and this year, HR 881 passed the Committee on Homeland Security with unanimous bipartisan
04:17support. I want to thank Chairman Greene, Ranking Member Thompson, my counterpart on the Subcommittee
04:23on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, Ranking Member Magaziner, and the Committee of Homeland Security
04:28staff for moving this critical legislation forward. The DHS restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese
04:34Entities of Concern Act would play a vital role in protecting our students, intellectual property, and national
04:40security. Together, this effort demonstrates a unified bipartisan way to protect our nation from the
04:46insidious influence of the CCP, and that our students, our intellectual property, and our national
04:51security are protected from the malign influence of the CCP. I'd like to urge all of my Republican and
04:57Democrat colleagues to support this legislation. Thank you, and I reserve the balance of my time.
05:01you