{"id":1049097,"date":"2021-11-23T16:44:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T21:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1049097"},"modified":"2021-11-23T16:44:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T21:44:14","slug":"top-republican-pushes-congressional-witnesses-to-disclose-foreign-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-republican-pushes-congressional-witnesses-to-disclose-foreign-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Republican Pushes Congressional Witnesses To Disclose Foreign Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftop-republican-pushes-congressional-witnesses-to-disclose-foreign-influence%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1049097&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"28.354430379747\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/\">National Security<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Jim Banks wants to curb Chinese influence in Washington<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-736x491-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-736x491.jpg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1330929103-1-1400x934.jpg 1400w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tRep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 November 23, 2021 4:30 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"92.497319413093\">\n<p>A top Republican is pushing a bill aimed at curbing foreign influence in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) on Tuesday introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/d4254037a343b683d142111e0\/files\/12f45643-d760-4881-455c-8f1a7aae7147\/FINAL_Truth_in_Testimony_One_Pager.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legislation<\/a> that would require experts slated to give congressional testimony to disclose whether their employers accept foreign money. The proposal largely targets universities and think tanks, which provide a steady stream of expert witnesses for congressional foreign policy hearings.<\/p>\n<p>While the bill would cover donations from all countries, Banks focuses on China, given the Communist regime&#8217;s significant funding for prominent Washington-based think tanks. The China-United States Exchange Foundation, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, has in recent years&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/chinese-communist-party-funds-washington-think-tanks\/\">donated<\/a> millions of dollars to the Brookings Institution, the Center for American Progress, the Carter Center, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. CIA director William Burns, the former president of Carnegie, testified this year that he cut ties with the Exchange Foundation because of its efforts to malignly influence American policymakers.<\/p>\n<p>American think tanks have in recent years come under scrutiny for accepting foreign donations, often without fully disclosing the donations to the public. <a href=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/ugd\/3ba8a1_4f06e99f35d4485b801f8dbfe33b6a3f.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One study<\/a> found that between&nbsp;2014 and 2018 foreigners poured more than $174 million into think-tank coffers. Lawmakers and transparency groups have expressed concern that think-tank experts serve as vectors of influence\u2014wittingly or unwittingly\u2014for their corporate and foreign backers. Banks&#8217;s bill would impose more stringent disclosure requirements to fix what he says are &#8220;significant loopholes&#8221; in existing &#8220;Truth in Transparency&#8221; rules.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Congress works best when all the cards are face up on the table,&#8221; Banks said in the statement that announced the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Not all of China&#8217;s influence efforts come through Communist Party front groups. Huawei donated $300,000 to the Brookings Institution for a study that touted the Chinese technology firm&#8217;s surveillance products. The founder of Brookings&#8217;s China Center, John L. Thornton, <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/brookings-institution-boosts-china-initiatives-linked-to-board-member\/\">is the chairman<\/a> of the Silk Road Finance Corporation, which partners with the Chinese government to fund projects for its foreign infrastructure initiative, Belt and Road. Brookings scholars have released reports and testified before Congress without disclosing those ties.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party work every day to exploit America&#8217;s openness and advance their agendas, often surreptitiously by funding researchers who then seek to shape policy,&#8221; Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Action said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Other unsavory regimes also fund some of Washington&#8217;s most influential think tanks, whose scholars testify frequently before Congress. The Qatari embassy&nbsp;each year donates millions of dollars to Brookings. The Turkish government has in recent years&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/at-the-atlantic-council-foreign-money-talks\/\">forged close ties<\/a> with the Atlantic Council through donations through its government agencies and state-owned companies.<\/p>\n<p>Sources familiar with the Atlantic Council&#8217;s activities say the think tank has tailored its academic research and events to requests from Turkish government officials. The Atlantic Council last year hosted an event that featured Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan. Atlantic Council president Frederick Kempe was with Erdo\u011fan when the strongman&#8217;s body guards in May 2017 attacked peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Security Jim Banks wants to curb Chinese influence in Washington  Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) \/ Getty Images  Chuck Ross \u2022 November 23, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}