Lankford Takes Action to Get Chinese Communist Party Out of All US Classrooms

WASHINGTON, DC –Senator James Lankford (R-OK), who serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today introduced his Countering Adversarial and Malicious Partnerships at Universities and Schools (CAMPUS) Act, which prohibits joint research between US universities and universities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with connections to the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army. The bill notably prohibits Department of Education funds for K-12 schools partnering with PLA-linked entities, as well as federal contracts and research dollars for universities that partner with the PRC military enterprises.

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is working to undermine and challenge the US—not just internationally, but on our own soil. They are creeping into our education system at the university and K-12 levels to destabilize, misinform, hack, steal, and propagandize,” said Lankford. “We have already identified Confucius Institutes as dangerous connection points between US universities and Beijing. The CCP has used these connections to steal American innovation and exert political influence over students, faculty, and their families. But they’re finding new ways to engage malignly with our schools, from K-12 to universities and colleges who are often connected to the US government through contracts. My bill makes sure we get the Chinese Communist Party out of our classrooms and keeps them away from sensitive national security information.”

Lankford remains a leader in the Senate in countering the CCP’s nefarious influence in the US. He introduced his Security and Oversight of International Landholdings (SOIL) Act and spoke about the need to protect US farmland from foreign, particularly Chinese, ownership, after an alarming increase in foreign land ownership over the past decade in Oklahoma, which appears to be due in part to an increased presence of international criminal organizations surrounding marijuana growth in the state. Last year, Lankford requested a hearing with Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell and leadership at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding Chinese influence and information theft at US Federal Reserve Banks. He released a report detailing China’s efforts to target, influence, and undermine the US Federal Reserve.

Lankford is also a leading voice in standing up to the CCP’s relationship with destabilizing actors like Iran and Russia. Lankford introduced legislation targeting China’s illegal trafficking of sanctioned Iranian oil, and last year led a successful effort to prohibit any nuclear deal with Iran that does not address the China-Iran petroleum trade that is destabilizing the Middle East. Lankford also sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding sanctions against Chinese individuals and entities that continue to purchase, refine, or otherwise deal in Iranian-origin oil and petrochemicals.

Lankford has also championed solutions to strengthen supply chain resiliency for Americans and reduce reliance on China for critical goods. Lankford introduced the Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain Security Act to proactively reduce US dependence on China for our prescription drugs and pharmaceutical components. He also introduced legislation to reduce our reliance on China for critical minerals by working with allies in the Indo-Pacific.

Lankford continues to stand up for the human rights of the Chinese people, recently reintroducing the bipartisan Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act, which would ensure those Hongkongers who peacefully protested Beijing’s corrupt justice system and have a well-founded fear of persecution are eligible for Priority 2 Refugee status. He also led the bipartisan Safeguarding Internet Freedom in Hong Kong Act to deploy firewall circumvention technology to circumvent the CCP’s surveillance apparatus and promote freedom of speech.

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