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Newly introduced legislation would require think tanks and nonprofits to reveal whether they have significant funding from governments and political groups in Russia and China.
U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, introduced the “Think Tank and Nonprofit Foreign Influence Disclosure Act” Thursday, which would require nonprofits and think tanks to disclose foreign donations over $50,000. The bill would require the U.S. Treasury Department to create a “publicly available in a searchable database information relating to such gifts and contributions received from foreign governments and political parties…”
“Foreign governments and foreign political parties attempt to influence the government and political system of the United States through donations to nonprofit charitable organizations especially think tanks and cultural organizations,” the bill reads. “While institutions of higher learning are required to disclose foreign gifts to the Department of Education pursuant to the Higher Education Act, no such requirement exists for think tanks.”
Gooden sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this month alleging that Russian-funded environmental groups are advocating against U.S. oil production in the name of climate change with the real motive of strengthening their own economy, which relies heavily on exporting oil.
“Numerous reports have confirmed Russia’s extensive efforts to interfere in our government, perpetrated through environmental groups such as these, who take shelter behind their non-profit status and donor anonymity,” the letter said. “We are now experiencing the results of unchecked foreign interference to manipulate Americans’ opinions about pipelines, fossil fuels, fracking, and climate change. The Treasury Department has a responsibility to the American people to shed light on the growing role environmental nonprofit organizations have in undermining our national security and American energy independence.”
The new legislation points to a 2019 report from the Center for a New American Security, which said: “A number of U.S. universities, academic departments, individual scholars, think […]
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