LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – On Wednesday, several representatives from the Michigan House announced a package of bills aimed at reducing foreign influence in the state by addressing potential threats to the state’s farmland, technology, and schools. 

According to Representative Andrew Fink (R-Adams Township), the package mainly addresses the influence of the Chinese government, but it also addresses other foreign influences. 

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“This package does address threats from other foreign governments which have proven themselves to be adversarial to the United States,” Rep. Fink said, “Those governments include: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russian, Venezuela, and Cuba.” 

He further added that while previous legislation addressed aspects of the package, this one is far more comprehensive, including “Bills addressing sensitive land purchases, the subsidization of projects involving hostile powers, and the direct dissemination of anti-american ideology in our schools and universities, this package and this group of legislators are attempting to both demonstrate and combat the breadth of the threats that the regimes named in these bills pose.” 

Former Ambassadors Joseph Cella and Pete Hoekstra were also present for the conference sharing their concerns and hopes for the legislation at the state level, and as an example to other states. 

“We’ve seen Washington struggle with how exactly do we frame this threat from China and these other hostile actors,” Hoekstra added, “because we know the system is broken, we don’t have the protections in place to protect the country and keep us secure militarily, economically, and politically.” 

Hoestra added his concern with what he has seen with the Electric Vehicle plants, Gotion in Big Rapids, and the Ford BlueOval Battery Park plant in Marshall. 

“Local governments also need to be interactive and be part of this process,” he said. “This is a great step forward to fix a broken system, a system that is broken at every level, federal, state, and local.” 

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On the education side of the legislation, Representatives Jaime Greene (R-Richmond) and William Bruck (R-Erie) are proposing legislation that would impact schools receiving grants with ties to foreign countries of concern, such as Confucius Institute schools, and similar programs. 

“Notably, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan and West Michigan University, all maintain affiliations with organizations linked to Confucius Institutions,” Rep. Greene said, “This situation prompts important inquiries regarding academic freedom and the potential for foreign influence in the education of our young individuals within the state.” 

As a veteran, Rep. Greene discussed how it has helped inform her opposition to Communism by safeguarding the principles America stands for “Freedom, democracy, and the pursuit of knowledge without bias.” 

“I cannot stand by and allow repressive propaganda systems from dangerous foreign adversaries to infiltrate our educational institutions here at home and compromise our academic independence,” she added. 

According to Rep. Fink and others, the package should be bipartisan, and important to all. 

“It’s certainly not intended to be a partisan issue, we have circulated these bills for co-sponsorship to the entire house,” Fink added that the members present all had a tie in with their former careers. “You can maybe not look at us so much as a collection of republicans but of members of the house with certain experiences which maybe put our antennas up a little bit.” 

The package of nine bills is expected to be introduced during session later this week.