I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2499

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contributions and expenditures by multicandidate political committees controlled

by foreign-owned corporations, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 18, 1995

Ms. KAPTUR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of

the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

prohibit contributions and expenditures by

multicandidate political committees controlled by foreignowned corporations, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ethics in For5 eign Lobbying Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI2 TURES BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL

3 COMMITTEES OR SEPARATE SEGREGATED

4 FUNDS SPONSORED BY FOREIGN-CON5 TROLLED CORPORATIONS AND ASSOCIA6 TIONS.

7 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

8 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

9 end the following new section:

10 ‘‘PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES

11 BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEES SPON12 SORED BY FOREIGN-CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS

13 AND ASSOCIATIONS

14 ‘‘SEC. 324. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision

15 of law—

16 ‘‘(1) no multicandidate political committee or

17 separate segregated fund of a foreign-controlled cor18 poration may make any contribution or expenditure

19 with respect to an election for Federal office; and

20 ‘‘(2) no multicandidate political committee or

21 separate segregated fund of a trade organization,

22 membership organization, cooperative, or corporation

23 without capital stock may make any contribution or

24 expenditure with respect to an election for Federal

25 office if 50 percent or more of the operating fund of

26 the trade organization, membership organization, co-
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1 operative, or corporation without capital stock is

2 supplied by foreign-controlled corporations or foreign

3 nationals.

4 ‘‘(b) The Commission shall—

5 ‘‘(1) require each multicandidate political com6 mittee or separate segregated fund of a corporation

7 to include in the statement of organization of the

8 multicandidate political committee or separate seg9 regated fund a statement (to be updated annually

10 and at any time when the percentage goes above or

11 below 50 percent) of the percentage of ownership in12 terest in the corporation that is controlled by per13 sons other than citizens or nationals of the United

14 States;

15 ‘‘(2) require each trade association, membership

16 organization, cooperative, or corporation without

17 capital stock to include in its statement of organiza18 tion of the multicandidate political committee or sep19 arate segregated fund (and update annually) the

20 percentage of its operating fund that is derived from

21 foreign-owned corporations and foreign nationals;

22 and

23 ‘‘(3) take such action as may be necessary to

24 enforce subsection (a).
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1 ‘‘(c) The Commission shall maintain a list of the

2 identity of the multicandidate political committees or sepa3 rate segregated funds that file reports under subsection

4 (b), including a statement of the amounts and percentage

5 reported by such multicandidate political committees or

6 separate segregated funds.

7 ‘‘(d) As used in this section—

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘foreign-owned corporation’

9 means a corporation at least 50 percent of the own10 ership interest of which is controlled by persons

11 other than citizens or nationals of the United States;

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘multicandidate political commit13 tee’ has the meaning given that term in section

14 315(a)(4);

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘separate segregated fund’ means

16 a separate segregated fund referred to in section

17 316(b)(2)(C); and

18 ‘‘(4) the term ‘foreign national’ has the mean19 ing given that term in section 319.’’.

20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ELECTION-RELATED

21 ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN NATIONALS.

22 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

23 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441e) is amended by adding at the end

24 the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(c) A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, con2 trol, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision3 making process of any person, such as a corporation, labor

4 organization, or political committee, with regard to such

5 person’s Federal or non-Federal election-related activities,

6 such as decisions concerning the making of contributions

7 or expenditures in connection with elections for any local,

8 State, or Federal office or decisions concerning the admin9 istration of a political committee.’’.

10 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A CLEARINGHOUSE OF POLITI11 CAL ACTIVITIES INFORMATION WITHIN THE

12 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.

13 (a) There shall be established within the Federal

14 Election Commission a clearinghouse of existing public in15 formation regarding the political activities of foreign prin16 cipals and foreign agents (as defined by the Foreign

17 Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended). The infor18 mation comprising this clearinghouse shall include and

19 be solely limited to the following:

20 (1) Existing publicly disclosed registrations and

21 quarterly reports required by the Federal Regulation

22 of Lobbying Act (2 U.S.C. 261–270).

23 (2) Existing publicly disclosed registrations and

24 quarterly reports required by the Foreign Agents

25 Registration Act, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611–621).
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1 (3) The catalogue of public hearings, hear2 ings witnesses and witness affiliations as printed in

3 the Congressional Record.

4 (4) Existing public information disclosed pursu5 ant to House and Senate rules regarding honoraria,

6 the receipt of gifts, travel, earned and unearned in7 come, post-congressional employment, and conflict of

8 interest regulations.

9 (5) Existing public information disclosed pursu10 ant to the requirements of the Federal Election

11 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.).

12 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

13 disclosure by the clearinghouse of any information other

14 than that set forth in subsection (a) shall be prohibited

15 except by Act of Congress.

16 (c) A Director shall administer and manage the re17 sponsibilities and all activities of the clearinghouse.

18 (d) The Director shall be appointed by the Federal

19 Election Commission.

20 (e) The Director shall serve a single term not to ex21 ceed 5 years.

22 (f) There shall be authorized such sums as necessary

23 to conduct activities of the clearinghouse.
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1 SEC. 5. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR

2 OF THE CLEARINGHOUSE.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the duty of the

4 Director—

5 (1) to develop a filing, coding, and cross-index6 ing system to carry out the purposes of this Act

7 (which shall include an index of all persons identi8 fied in the reports, registrations, and other existing

9 public disclosures filed under this Act);

10 (2) notwithstanding any other provision of law,

11 to make copies of registrations, reports and public

12 disclosures filed with him under this Act available

13 for public inspection and copying, commencing as

14 soon as practicable, and to permit copying of any

15 such registration or report by hand or by copying

16 machine or, at the request of any person, to furnish

17 a copy of any such registration or report upon pay18 ment of the cost of making and furnishing such

19 copy; but no information contained in such registra20 tion or report shall be sold or utilized by any person

21 for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for any

22 profit-making purpose;

23 (3) to compile and summarize, for each cal24 endar quarter, the information contained in such

25 registrations, reports, and other existing public dis26 closures required by this Act in a manner which fa-
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1 cilitates the disclosure of political activities, includ2 ing, but not limited to, information on—

3 (A) political activities pertaining to issues

4 before the Congress and issues before the exec5 utive branch; and

6 (B) the political activities of individuals,

7 organizations, foreign principals, and foreign

8 agents who share an economic, business, or

9 other common interest;

10 (4) to make the information compiled and sum11 marized under paragraph (3) available to the public

12 within 30 days after the close of each quarterly pe13 riod, and to publish such information in the Federal

14 Register at the earliest practicable opportunity;

15 (5) not later than 150 days after the date of

16 the enactment of this Act and at any time there17 after, to prescribe, in consultation with the Comp18 troller General of the United States, rules, regula19 tions, and forms, in conformity with the provisions

20 of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, as are

21 necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act in

22 the most effective and efficient manner;

23 (6) at the request of any Member of the Senate

24 or the House of Representatives, to prepare and

25 submit to such Member a special study or report re-
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1 lating to the political activities of any person, such

2 report to consist solely of the information in the reg3 istrations, reports, and other publicly disclosed infor4 mation required in this Act;

5 (7) to require the accurate, timely, and com6 plete transfer of information required under section

7 1 of this Act to the clearinghouse; and

8 (8) to refer to the Comptroller General for in9 vestigation any instances where registrations, re10 ports, and political information required in section 1

11 of this Act are not forwarded to the clearinghouse

12 in an accurate, timely, and complete fashion.

13 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

14 (1) the term ‘‘issue before the Congress’’ means

15 the total of all matters, both substantive and proce16 dural, relating to (A) any pending or proposed bill,

17 resolution, report, nomination, treaty, hearing, inves18 tigation, or other similar matter in either the Senate

19 or the House of Representatives or any committee or

20 office of the Congress, or (B) any action or proposed

21 action by a Member, officer, or employee of the Con22 gress to affect, or attempt to affect, any action or

23 proposed action by any officer or employee of the ex24 ecutive branch; and
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1 (2) the term ‘‘issue before the executive

2 branch’’ means the total of all matters, both sub3 stantive and procedural, relating to any action or

4 possible action by any executive agency, or by any

5 officer or employee of the executive branch, concern6 ing (A) any pending or proposed rule, rule of prac7 tice, adjudication, regulation, determination, hear8 ing, investigation, contract, grant, license, negotia9 tion, or the appointment of officers and employees,

10 other than appointments in the competitive service,

11 or (B) any issue before the Congress.

12 SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN AGENTS REG13 ISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED.

14 (a) Section 2(b) of the Foreign Agents Registration

15 Act of 1938, as amended, is amended in the first sentence

16 by striking out ‘‘, within thirty days’’ and all that follows

17 through ‘‘preceding six months’ period’’ and inserting in

18 lieu thereof ‘‘on January 31, April 30, July 31, and Octo19 ber 31 of each year, file with the Attorney General a sup20 plement thereto on a form prescribed by the Attorney Gen21 eral, which shall set forth regarding the three-month peri22 ods ending the previous December 31, March 31, June

23 30, and September 30, respectively, or if a lesser period,

24 the period since the initial filing,’’.
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1 (b) Section 3(g) of the Foreign Agents Registration

2 Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by inserting after

3 ‘‘whether formal or informal.’’ the following: ‘‘Notwith4 standing any other provision of law, persons covered by

5 this subsection shall be exempt only upon filing with the

6 Attorney General an affirmative request for exemption.’’.

7 (c) Section 8 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act

8 of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end

9 thereof the following:

10 ‘‘(i)(1) Any person who is determined, after notice

11 and opportunity for an administrative hearing—

12 ‘‘(A) to have failed to file a registration state13 ment under section 2(a) or a supplement thereto

14 under section 2(b),

15 ‘‘(B) to have omitted a material fact required to

16 be stated therein, or

17 ‘‘(C) to have made a false statement with re18 spect to such a material fact,

19 shall be required to pay a civil penalty in an amount not

20 less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 for each violation

21 committed. In determining the amount of the penalty, the

22 Attorney General shall give due consideration to the na23 ture and duration of the violation.

24 ‘‘(2)(A) In conducting investigations and hearings

25 under paragraph (1), administrative law judges may, if
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1 necessary, compel by subpoena the attendance of witnesses

2 and the production of evidence at any designated place

3 or hearing.

4 ‘‘(B) In the case of contumacy or refusal to obey a

5 subpoena lawfully issued under this paragraph and, upon

6 application by the Attorney General, an appropriate dis7 trict court of the United States may issue an order requir8 ing compliance with such subpoena and any failure to obey

9 such order may be punished by such court as contempt

10 thereof.’’.

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