The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently held a hearing on the importance of the Department of Homeland Security actively combating the influx of deadly drugs across the Southwest border.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), a committee member, recently introduced new bills addressing the issue. The FIGHT Fentanyl Act would permanently list fentanyl as a Schedule I drug. The Combating Meth and Cocaine Act would give states the flexibility to use federal funding to address meth and cocaine entering the United States from Mexico.
Portman also discussed with Christopher Wray, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) director, the importance of the FBI informing higher education community about the threat posed by Confucius Institutes.
The institutes are located at more than 100 American colleges and universities but are controlled, funded, and mostly staffed by the Chinese government. The Chinese government has sent the institutes more than $150 million in support.
Portman and Sen. Tom Carpers (D-DE), the chairman and ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), released a report earlier this year on the
the lack of transparency in how higher education manages the Confucius Institutes.
Wray said the FBI held an academic summit last month to brief chancellors and others from universities on some of the threats.