New York Congressmen Ritchie Torres and Andrew Garbarino Introduce the ‘No Foreign Gifts Act”

Today, Congressmen Ritchie Torres (NY-15) and Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) introduced the No Foreign Gifts Act into the U.S. House of Representatives.

This legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include a prohibition of gifts from foreign nations that have provided financial support of foreign terrorist organizations, including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. It would also mandate reporting, in so that in order to continue to be eligible to receive funds under this act, an institution must, for each instance where such institution is offered a gift from such a country, report the offer to the Secretary of State.

On the legislation, Rep. Torres released the following statement:

“The No Foreign Gifts Act represents a crucial step toward safeguarding the integrity of our nation’s higher education system from malicious foreign influence, which has become increasingly pronounced in the aftermath of October 7. By prohibiting gifts from countries that have supported foreign terrorist organizations, like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, this legislation would ensure that institutions of higher learning remain free from malign financial manipulation that is corrupting the minds of America’s next generation and causing social disorder. We do not seek to police the content of reasonable discourse at our universities. In fact, we intend to do the exact opposite. Educational institutions must be focused on nurturing the minds of the future, not on advancing the agendas of our adversaries. Anything else is an act of national self-sabotage.”

Rep. Garbarino released the following statement:

“Foreign influence has no place in our education system—especially when it’s aimed at spreading antisemitism and anti-American sentiment on our college campuses. For far too long, radical organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine have been propped up by foreign entities with connections to terrorism. Allowing these malign actors to continue funneling money into our colleges and universities would be the height of recklessness. This legislation seeks to put an end to this dangerous flow of foreign funds, protect our students, and preserve the integrity of our academic institutions.”

The full bill text is attached to this email.

Flashback: In January, Rep. Torres raised the alarm to the New York City Department of Education over “a Qatari-funded map that left out the Jewish state was found posted in a Brooklyn classroom…[He wrote that] ‘the DOE should subject to heightened scrutiny educational content from external entities like the Qatar International Foundation, whose program promoted the image of the Middle East where Israel was nowhere to be found.’”