Miller-meeks, Krishnamoorthi, Laturner, Gottheimer, Fitzpatrick, & Slotkin Introduce Bill to Crack Down on Undisclosed Foreign Influence

Statement

Today, June 28th, 2022, Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Jake LaTurner (KS-02), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) introduced the Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act. This bipartisan and bicameral bill would close a loophole that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) frequently exploits to conceal its role in lobbying efforts.

This legislation is the House companion to S. 4254, introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

"Iowans have a right to know who is funding efforts to influence their government officials. For too long, the Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of loopholes in federal law to push their agenda, and that is unacceptable," said Miller-Meeks. "Federal policy decisions should be made with the best interests of the American people in mind, not Xi Jinping's dictatorship. I am proud to lead this bipartisan group to ensure that our government serves the people it represents."

"If a foreign government or political party is trying to sway American policy, we ought to know about it. We've learned that the Chinese Communist Party has used other organizations as proxies to secretly push their agenda in the United States," said Grassley. "This bill builds on existing lobbying and foreign agent laws to shine a light on that behavior so we know exactly where influence campaigns are coming from to ensure policy decisions are in the best interest of the American people."

"The threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, and other foreign governments influencing our political process through lobbying has serious national security implications and must be addressed," said Krishnamoorthi. "I'm proud to co-lead this bipartisan, commonsense bill to increase transparency in foreign lobbying and ensure that our government works in the interests of our nation, and not those of hostile powers abroad."

"The Chinese Communist Party poses one of the greatest threats to our national security. For years, Xi Jinping and CCP officials have taken advantage of a loophole to conceal their lobbying efforts and influence policy decisions in Washington," said LaTurner. "This is dangerous and must be stopped. I am proud to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation that will close this loophole and keep our adversaries out of America's lawmaking process."

"This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will help us combat foreign adversaries like China and Russia and their attempts to influence our political process," said Gottheimer, the House Financial Services Committee Vice-Chair of the National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy Subcommittee. "With this bill, we're fighting to close loopholes to better protect our own national security and democracy."

"The Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act will correct a loophole that the Chinese Communist Party has continued to exploit," said Fitzpatrick. "Our bipartisan legislation will protect our nation's democracy from the CCP's malign influence and our other adversaries."

To read the full text of this legislation, click HERE.

Background:

The bipartisan and bicameral Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act aims to crack down on foreign adversaries' efforts to secretly influence U.S. policy.

Federal lobbying law requires both lobbyists and the organizations that retain them to register their activities with the government to provide transparency in policy influence efforts. However, think tanks and law enforcement agencies have identified schemes in which the CCP has used closely-connected organizations and businesses to push their interests when lobbying the U.S. government. The company, which may be registered under the law, effectively becomes a proxy for the government or political party, which is not registered.

The Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act makes clear that foreign governments and political parties that participate in the planning, supervision, direction or control of a lobbying effort must disclose their activity, regardless of any financial contribution to the lobbying effort.

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