House GOP Moves to Shield Classrooms From ‘Communist Indoctrination’

Paul Riverbank, 12/5/2025House GOP advances bills to block Chinese influence in schools, sparking fierce debate on security.

Republican lawmakers, frustrated by what they describe as years of creeping influence from Beijing, are drawing a line in the sand. They claim China’s Communist Party has been quietly working its way into U.S. education, starting well before most Americans ever heard of “foreign influence campaigns.” College campuses, they argue, were only the start; now, the reach extends all the way down to kindergartens.

Rep. John Moolenaar, presiding over the House Select Committee on the CCP, did not mince words: “China wants to influence what American students learn in classrooms from kindergarten through college,” he told reporters. “These commonsense bills will protect them from Chinese propaganda and shine a light on how China tries to influence our education system.”

Some of these concerns aren't just theoretical. In one recent case that made national news, federal agents arrested Chinese nationals posing as visiting scholars who, prosecutors say, were smuggling high-risk research materials out of the country. Elsewhere, U.S. schools accepted donations and after-school programs, only later discovering the money often came through entities tied to the Chinese government. Critics point to programs—like the once-ubiquitous Confucius Institutes—that have been accused of glossing over the more troubling parts of Chinese history, including the Tiananmen Square massacre and abuses against the Uyghur minority.

The legislation at the heart of this battle would, among other things, yank federal funding from any K-12 school that takes money, or program support, from Beijing—directly or indirectly. Parents would get new rights, too: the ability to formally request information on any questionable ties their children’s schools may have with foreign sources.

Rep. Kevin Hern, author of the PROTECT Our Kids Act, summed up the sense of urgency on his side of the aisle. “The CCP’s malign influence in our educational institutions is a serious and growing threat. Today’s students are our future leaders, and we must ensure their learning environments are free from anti-American, foreign influence.”

This legislative package includes three separate proposals. The PROTECT Our Kids Act is the strictest, pulling federal money from schools buddied up in any way with the Chinese government. The TRACE Act opens up foreign-influence transparency to parents, letting them demand disclosure from their local schools. The CLASS Act, meanwhile, requires a public accounting of all foreign funds and outright bans contracts with Chinese-backed entities for schools wishing to keep their federal dollars.

Rep. Aaron Bean, an outspoken supporter of the TRACE Act, put it bluntly: “American schools are for education, not espionage. Yet this is what happens when our institutions of learning accept the Trojan horse of foreign funding.”

A closer look reveals that flair for drama isn’t just about Beltway politics. In Fairfax County, Virginia, school administrators quietly worked with Chinese partners to establish brand-new campuses modeled on an elite local magnet school—even sharing detailed blueprints. Tens of thousands of miles away, high school students from rural Iowa were whisked off for all-expenses-paid summer trips to China, then filmed—awkwardly, some said—chanting official party slogans for Chinese TV. And at Stanford, a student journalist uncovered what he described as a full-blown intelligence gathering campaign hiding in plain sight.

Parents, too, are sounding alarms. One watchdog group, Parents Defending Education, published a report last year cataloguing everything from Chinese-backed funding for STEM labs to Mandarin language programs paid for directly by Beijing-linked organizations. The report, carefully footnoted, argues that the scope of influence goes far beyond Chinese-language classes and cultural events.

Despite mounting anxieties—and a string of headlines that would rattle any school board—the legislation split the House down party lines. Over 160 Democrats voted against two of the bills, with most saying the measures were too broad or vague. Critics, including senior Democrats like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, cautioned that the bills could have unintended consequences, including the risk of unfairly targeting Chinese American families and parents.

Jeffries went so far as to accuse Republican sponsors of distraction. “We just want to educate our children, focus on reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said, “not get dragged into a broader culture war.”

Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia flagged another issue: lack of clarity. “The bill gives no guidance on what acting directly or indirectly on behalf of means, or how you are supposed to know,” he said, raising a scenario where every family donation—particularly those from Chinese American households—could fall under suspicion.

Even with warnings from the other side of the aisle, all three bills passed, albeit with only a handful of Democrats joining the majority—33, in fact. The margins: 247-166 and 247-164.

Republicans insist their motives are straightforward, rooted in transparency and the need to draw a hard line against what they see as adversarial influence in U.S. schools. “The CCP would love to stop Americans from learning about its horrific Cultural Revolution, its slaughter of innocent students at Tiananmen Square, its genocide of Uyghurs,” Moolenaar said. “These bills will empower parents and prohibit China’s influence in our classrooms.”

With the legislation now advancing to the next phase, the fight over the role of foreign interests—and how, or whether, to keep them outside the gates of America’s schools—seems poised to grow even more personal, and more political, in the months ahead. One thing is clear: how this debate unfolds could reshape more than just budgets, but the curriculum, the classroom experience, and perhaps the broader conversation about what it means to teach—and learn—in America.

Three bills aiming to keep Chinese government interests out of American schools have landed in the House, sparking one of the more personal debates Washington has seen this year. Suddenly, worries about classroom lessons and national security are colliding in a conversation that stretches from the Capitol to suburban town halls.Republican lawmakers, frustrated by what they describe as years of creeping influence from Beijing, are drawing a line in the sand. They claim China’s Communist Party has been quietly working its way into U.S. education, starting well before most Americans ever heard of “foreign influence campaigns.” College campuses, they argue, were only the start; now, the reach extends all the way down to kindergartens.Rep. John Moolenaar, presiding over the House Select Committee on the CCP, did not mince words: “China wants to influence what American students learn in classrooms from kindergarten through college,” he told reporters. “These commonsense bills will protect them from Chinese propaganda and shine a light on how China tries to influence our education system.”Some of these concerns aren't just theoretical. In one recent case that made national news, federal agents arrested Chinese nationals posing as visiting scholars who, prosecutors say, were smuggling high-risk research materials out of the country. Elsewhere, U.S. schools accepted donations and after-school programs, only later discovering the money often came through entities tied to the Chinese government. Critics point to programs—like the once-ubiquitous Confucius Institutes—that have been accused of glossing over the more troubling parts of Chinese history, including the Tiananmen Square massacre and abuses against the Uyghur minority.The legislation at the heart of this battle would, among other things, yank federal funding from any K-12 school that takes money, or program support, from Beijing—directly or indirectly. Parents would get new rights, too: the ability to formally request information on any questionable ties their children’s schools may have with foreign sources.Rep. Kevin Hern, author of the PROTECT Our Kids Act, summed up the sense of urgency on his side of the aisle. “The CCP’s malign influence in our educational institutions is a serious and growing threat. Today’s students are our future leaders, and we must ensure their learning environments are free from anti-American, foreign influence.”This legislative package includes three separate proposals. The PROTECT Our Kids Act is the strictest, pulling federal money from schools buddied up in any way with the Chinese government. The TRACE Act opens up foreign-influence transparency to parents, letting them demand disclosure from their local schools. The CLASS Act, meanwhile, requires a public accounting of all foreign funds and outright bans contracts with Chinese-backed entities for schools wishing to keep their federal dollars.Rep. Aaron Bean, an outspoken supporter of the TRACE Act, put it bluntly: “American schools are for education, not espionage. Yet this is what happens when our institutions of learning accept the Trojan horse of foreign funding.”A closer look reveals that flair for drama isn’t just about Beltway politics. In Fairfax County, Virginia, school administrators quietly worked with Chinese partners to establish brand-new campuses modeled on an elite local magnet school—even sharing detailed blueprints. Tens of thousands of miles away, high school students from rural Iowa were whisked off for all-expenses-paid summer trips to China, then filmed—awkwardly, some said—chanting official party slogans for Chinese TV. And at Stanford, a student journalist uncovered what he described as a full-blown intelligence gathering campaign hiding in plain sight.Parents, too, are sounding alarms. One watchdog group, Parents Defending Education, published a report last year cataloguing everything from Chinese-backed funding for STEM labs to Mandarin language programs paid for directly by Beijing-linked organizations. The report, carefully footnoted, argues that the scope of influence goes far beyond Chinese-language classes and cultural events.Despite mounting anxieties—and a string of headlines that would rattle any school board—the legislation split the House down party lines. Over 160 Democrats voted against two of the bills, with most saying the measures were too broad or vague. Critics, including senior Democrats like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, cautioned that the bills could have unintended consequences, including the risk of unfairly targeting Chinese American families and parents.Jeffries went so far as to accuse Republican sponsors of distraction. “We just want to educate our children, focus on reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said, “not get dragged into a broader culture war.”Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia flagged another issue: lack of clarity. “The bill gives no guidance on what acting directly or indirectly on behalf of means, or how you are supposed to know,” he said, raising a scenario where every family donation—particularly those from Chinese American households—could fall under suspicion.Even with warnings from the other side of the aisle, all three bills passed, albeit with only a handful of Democrats joining the majority—33, in fact. The margins: 247-166 and 247-164.Republicans insist their motives are straightforward, rooted in transparency and the need to draw a hard line against what they see as adversarial influence in U.S. schools. “The CCP would love to stop Americans from learning about its horrific Cultural Revolution, its slaughter of innocent students at Tiananmen Square, its genocide of Uyghurs,” Moolenaar said. “These bills will empower parents and prohibit China’s influence in our classrooms.”With the legislation now advancing to the next phase, the fight over the role of foreign interests—and how, or whether, to keep them outside the gates of America’s schools—seems poised to grow even more personal, and more political, in the months ahead. One thing is clear: how this debate unfolds could reshape more than just budgets, but the curriculum, the classroom experience, and perhaps the broader conversation about what it means to teach—and learn—in America.