Bill · S. 1684· Senate(119-S-1684)
A bill to require audits of institutions with respect to disclosures of foreign gifts, and for other purposes.
- Introduced
- 5/8/2025
- Last activity
- 5/8/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Sponsored by
- Ted Cruz
- Cosponsors
- None
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
This bill requires the Secretary to conduct regular audits of educational institutions regarding their disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts. Starting within 60 days of enactment, the Secretary must audit at least 30 institutions every two years, prioritizing those with large endowments or histories of foreign transactions. The audits will check for compliance and identify any under-reported or over-reported amounts. Additionally, the bill imposes heavy excise taxes on certain foreign contributions and failures to report funding. These taxes target institutions receiving income from foreign countries of concern or those that fail an audit.
Yes
Does this raise the taxes companies pay?+8
The bill imposes a 300 percent excise tax on income received from foreign countries of concern and a 110 percent tax on unreported foreign funding.
Does this make what the government does easier for the public to see?+7
The bill mandates the public disclosure of audit findings regarding institution financial reporting on a government website.
The opposite
Would high-income households be better off under this?-5
Large educational institutions with significant endowments face substantial new excise taxes and audit requirements.
Would students be better off under this?-2
The heavy excise taxes on institution income could potentially impact university budgets and resources available to students.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
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Increased Transparency through Audits: The Secretary is required to conduct audits of at least 30 institutions every two years to assess compliance with reporting requirements. This could help ensure that institutions are accurately reporting their financial dealings with foreign sources (Section 1, subsection (g)(1)).
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Public Accountability: Audit results must be submitted to Congress and made available on the Department of Education website, allowing the public to see the findings of these investigations (Section 1, subsection (g)(4)).
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Targeted Oversight: The bill prioritizes audits for institutions with large endowments, those with previous history of substantial foreign gifts or contracts, and those that have been noncompliant in the past (Section 1, subsection (g)(2)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
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Significant Tax Burdens on Institutions: An excise tax of 300 percent is imposed on income received from a foreign country of concern (Section 2, Section 4969(a)).
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Penalties for Non-reporting: Institutions face a tax equal to 110 percent of any unreported foreign funding discovered during an audit (Section 2, Section 4970(a)).
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Additional Financial Penalties: If the unreported funding comes from a foreign country of concern, the 110 percent tax is in addition to the 300 percent tax previously mentioned (Section 2, Section 4970(d)).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Economy And Finance
- Increases Corporate Taxes+8
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For High Income Households-5Good For Students-2
- Governance And Ideology
- Improves Government Transparency+7
- 5/8/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Introduced in Senate
One bill Congress.gov lists as related to this one — companions in the other chamber, earlier versions, and bills this one absorbed or was folded into.