Congressman August Pfluger, representing Texas's 11th district and serving as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, conducted a hearing to address concerns regarding Confucius Institutes. The session was part of a full committee hearing titled "Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security."
In conjunction with the hearing, Congressman Pfluger introduced legislation named the "DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act." This bill aims to prevent Department of Homeland Security funds from being allocated to American universities that host Confucius Institutes or have affiliations with certain Chinese entities.
During the proceedings, Chairman Pfluger sought insights from various experts about the potential threats posed by Confucius Institutes. These experts affirmed that such institutes present significant risks to U.S. national security and advocated for withholding federal funding from institutions engaged in agreements with them.
The panel included Dr. Michael Pillsbury from the Heritage Foundation, Bill Evanina of The Evanina Group, Craig Singleton from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Dr. Rush Doshi from Georgetown University.
Craig Singleton highlighted that although the number of Confucius Institutes has decreased in recent years, many have simply rebranded under different names. He expressed concern over these programs' influence at both university and K-12 levels across the United States.
Dr. Michael Pillsbury emphasized issues related to information collection within American universities facilitated by agreements signed without adequate oversight or understanding among academic institutions.
Chairman Pfluger questioned whether federal funding should be restricted for universities entering into such agreements. Dr. Pillsbury unequivocally supported this measure: "Absolutely."