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Politics

Francis Rooney, Ted Cruz Team Up to Crack Down on China Stealing Technology Through American Higher Ed

September 17, 2018 - 6:00am
Francis Rooney and Ted Cruz
Francis Rooney and Ted Cruz

Towards the end of last week, freshman U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla. paired up with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to bring out a bill “to stop foreign intelligence services from using college exchange programs to steal technology, recruit agents and spread propaganda."

Rooney, the vice chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee despite still being in his first term, unveiled his “Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft (SHEET) Act” on Thursday. 

The bill lets  FBI to designate foreign intelligence threats to higher education, ensures colleges and universities follow stricter rules when reporting foreign gifts and allows an appeal process

Rooney made the case for his proposal on Thursday. 

“Geopolitical adversaries like China are stealing American technology and exploiting our universities’ open research and development environment. One glaring example, Confucius Institutes, are used as a front by the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate American campuses to gather information and steal American technologies. We must stop foreign intelligence from exploiting our higher education for technology theft,” Rooney said. 

Cruz thanked Rooney for his legislation. 

“The Chinese Communist Party is working to undermine American universities by meddling with curricula, silencing criticism of their regime, and stealing intellectual property,” Cruz said. “Creating accountability for Confucius Institutes is a necessary step to protect our institutions of higher learning, and I’m glad that Rep. Rooney has introduced this important legislation.”

Rooney reeled in five cosponsors including Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz and Dan Webster. 

The bill was sent to the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. 

Cruz has not had much like with his version of the bill over in the Senate. After the Texas Republican introduced the bill in May, it has been lingering in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. So far, Cruz has not been able to get any other senator to cosponsor the legislation. 

Comments

why did you wait so long for something you knew was a problem for years now?

Mr. Rooney, hurry up and get it passed, Cruz is radioactive and about to get "Connor Lambed" in November.

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