The DETERRENT Act (H.R. 1048), which would overhaul how colleges and universities disclose foreign gifts and contracts under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, passed the House in 2025 with bipartisan support. More than a year later, its Senate companion (S. 1296) has not received a floor vote. In early May 2026, a coalition of 26 organizations sent a joint letter to congressional leadership urging the Senate to act, arguing that billions of dollars in foreign funding to U.S. universities continue to go unreported or underreported.
What the DETERRENT Act would change
Section 117 already requires institutions to report foreign gifts and contracts of $250,000 or more, twice a year, to the Department of Education. The DETERRENT Act does not create a new reporting regime from scratch — it amends Section 117 directly, tightening several of its existing mechanics rather than replacing them:
- Lower general threshold. The reporting threshold for most foreign gifts and contracts would drop from $250,000 to $50,000.
- Annual, not semiannual, reporting for most institutions, with expanded report content, including identity of the foreign source rather than just an aggregate value.
- A separate, stricter track for ‘countries of concern.’ Gifts and contracts from countries the State Department designates as countries of concern — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, under the bill’s current framework — would require disclosure regardless of amount, and contracts with entities in those countries would need annual approval from the Secretary of Education to proceed at all.
- Real penalties for noncompliance. Institutions that fail to meet the new reporting requirements would face fines and, for the most serious violations, could lose eligibility for Title IV federal student aid funding — a far more consequential lever than anything currently attached to Section 117 enforcement.
In other words, the DETERRENT Act works entirely inside the existing gift-and-contract disclosure framework: it lowers the dollar threshold, shortens the reporting cycle, and raises the stakes for institutions that fall short. It does not touch federal research grant funding directly — that is a separate legislative track, discussed below.
Legislative status: House passage, Senate stall
The House passed the DETERRENT Act on March 27, 2025, with bipartisan support — the second time the House has passed this legislation. An earlier version passed the House in December 2023 but was never taken up by the then-Democratic-controlled Senate. With Republicans now controlling both chambers, supporters have argued this Congress offers a more plausible path to enactment, but the Senate companion, S. 1296, has remained in committee with no floor vote scheduled as of mid-2026.
The May 2026 coalition push
On May 4, 2026, a coalition of 26 organizations — including the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), FDD Action, and B’nai B’rith International, among others — sent a joint letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The letter argued that billions of dollars in foreign funding, particularly from non-democratic states, have gone unreported or underreported under the current Section 117 framework, and specifically flagged China’s use of university partnerships as a channel into sensitive U.S. research. It called on both chambers to bring the DETERRENT Act to a vote.
As of this writing, the letter has not produced a scheduled Senate vote. Research offices should treat the bill as pending, not enacted — current Section 117 thresholds and reporting cadence remain in force, alongside the State Department’s February 2026 enforcement partnership with the Department of Education, which added a national-security review step to existing Section 117 oversight without changing the underlying thresholds.
How this differs from Section 117 enforcement and the SAFE Research Act
It is easy to conflate the DETERRENT Act with other recent foreign-influence legislation and enforcement activity, but the mechanisms are distinct:
- DETERRENT Act — legislative, amends Section 117 itself. Mechanism: lower gift/contract reporting threshold, annual reporting, Title IV penalties for noncompliance. Status: passed House, stalled in Senate.
- Section 117 / State Department enforcement partnership — administrative, not legislative. Mechanism: added a national-security review step to existing Education Department oversight of the current $250,000/semiannual framework. Thresholds unchanged. Already in effect as of February 2026.
- SAFE Research Act — legislative, but a different bill entirely, targeting federal research funding rather than gift disclosure. Mechanism: would have cut federal grant funding to institutions with ties to ‘hostile foreign entities.’ Dropped from the FY2026 NDAA after university pushback; not currently moving as standalone legislation.
The practical distinction for research administrators: the DETERRENT Act affects how and when you disclose foreign gifts and contracts already subject to Section 117; the SAFE Research Act would have affected whether federal grant dollars keep flowing to an institution at all. They share a policy environment — concern over foreign talent recruitment programs and research security around U.S.-China collaboration — but neither is a substitute for tracking the other.
What research institutions should do now
- Continue complying with Section 117 as it currently stands: $250,000 threshold, semiannual reporting. The DETERRENT Act has not changed the law.
- If your institution’s gift and contract tracking processes assume the current threshold and cadence, build in the flexibility to move to a $50,000/annual model without a full rebuild, given the bill has already cleared one chamber.
- Review active or pending agreements involving entities in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea now — the DETERRENT Act’s stricter approval track for ‘countries of concern’ would apply to existing relationships, not just new ones.
- Track S. 1296 alongside the broader research-security legislative landscape; CASRAI’s export control reform and CHIPS Act countries-of-concern guides cover adjacent, already-enacted restrictions.
Frequently asked questions
Has the DETERRENT Act become law?
No. It passed the House on March 27, 2025. The Senate companion, S. 1296, had not been scheduled for a floor vote as of mid-2026, despite the May 2026 coalition letter urging action.
Does the DETERRENT Act change the current $250,000 Section 117 threshold today?
No. Nothing changes unless and until the bill is enacted. Current Section 117 rules — $250,000 threshold, semiannual reporting — remain in force.
Is the DETERRENT Act the same as the SAFE Research Act?
No. They are separate bills with different mechanisms. The DETERRENT Act amends Section 117 gift-disclosure requirements; the SAFE Research Act would have cut federal research funding to institutions with certain foreign ties, and was dropped from the FY2026 NDAA.
Who is pushing for Senate action?
A coalition of 26 organizations, including ISGAP, FDD Action, and B’nai B’rith International, sent a joint letter to congressional leadership on May 4, 2026, urging both chambers to bring the bill to a vote.
