Murphy Introduces Legislation Targeting University Investments in Adversarial Entities

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D., introduced the Protecting Endowments from Our Adversaries Act (PEOAA) to impose a 50% excise tax on problematic investments in listed adversarial entities when acquired, and a 100% tax on gains realized from such investments. The legislation applies only to private colleges and universities with endowments worth more than $1 billion, of which there are approximately 80 in the United States.

"Frankly speaking the United States is at war with China. The Chinese Communist Party is economically, digitally, agriculturally, biologically, and philosophically attempting to control the United States," said Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. "We must take the threat of the Chinese Communist Party's influence in our society and on college campuses seriously. Over the last several years we have seen the malign influence on campuses grow. This legislation is for the security of the United States and our way of life. Colleges and Universities must wake up and see that the CCP is buying influence via their programs in this country. These multi-billion-dollar, tax-advantaged university endowments must be divested from companies beholden to Beijing and stop feeding the CCP’s hegemonic pursuits."

Background
The Protecting Endowments from Our Adversaries Act (PEOAA) covers endowment investments in companies included on U.S. Government Lists, including Entity List, Military End User (MEU) List, Unverified List, and the FCC Covered List.

In 2022, Murphy sent a letter to the 15 private colleges and universities with the largest endowments in the United States urging them to divest from dangerous Chinese entities. In addition, Murphy also sent letters to Davidson College and Wake Forest University.

University endowments have a history of links to companies implicated in human rights abuses in China. BuzzFeed reported in 2019 that MIT, Duke, and Princeton invested endowment funds in a company linked to human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

In 2023, Murphy wrote an OpEd on the Chinese Communist Party's influence on American college campuses, which can be read here.