II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3989 

To prohibit defense contracting with companies that employ lobbyists who 

represent Chinese military companies or human rights abusers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2024 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To prohibit defense contracting with companies that employ 

lobbyists who represent Chinese military companies or 

human rights abusers, 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 ‘‘Chinese Communist 

5 Party Lobbying Divestment Act of 2024’’. 


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•S 3989 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH COMPANIES 

2 WITH LOBBYING TIES TO CHINESE MILITARY 

3 COMPANIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 363 of title 10, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘§ 4663. Prohibition on contracting with companies 

8 with lobbying ties to Chinese military 

9 companies and human rights abusers 

10 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary of Defense may 

11 not enter into a contract for the procurement of goods 

12 or services with any person unless that person certifies to 

13 the Secretary of Defense that— 

14 ‘‘(1) the person does not employ or retain, and 

15 will not employ or retain for the duration of the con16 tract, any lobbyist or lobbying firm that is registered 

17 to conduct lobbying activities on behalf of a client 

18 that is listed on— 

19 ‘‘(A) the Department of Defense’s Chinese 

20 Military Company List; 

21 ‘‘(B) the Department of the Treasury’s 

22 Non-SDN Chinese Military Industrial Complex 

23 Companies List; 

24 ‘‘(C) the Department of Commerce’s De25 nied Persons List, Entity List, or Military End 

26 User List, if the client in question is— 


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•S 3989 IS

1 ‘‘(i) an agency or instrumentality of 

2 the People’s Republic of China; 

3 ‘‘(ii) an entity headquartered in the 

4 People’s Republic of China; or 

5 ‘‘(iii) directly or indirectly owned or 

6 controlled by an agency, instrumentality, 

7 or entity described in clause (i) or (ii); or 

8 ‘‘(D) the Department of Homeland Secu9 rity’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act En10 tity List; and 

11 ‘‘(2) the person will adopt reasonable proce12 dures to detect and report if any lobbyist or lobbying 

13 firm it has employed or retained registers to conduct 

14 lobbying activities on behalf of a client described in 

15 paragraph (1) during the performance of a contract. 

16 ‘‘(b) VIOLATIONS.—Each contract described under 

17 subsection (a) shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) include a mechanism for the contractor or 

19 third parties to report violations of a requirement 

20 under subsection (a); 

21 ‘‘(2) provide that the Department of Defense 

22 may audit or otherwise inspect the records of the 

23 contractor to determine if the contractor has violated 

24 a requirement under subsection (a); and 


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•S 3989 IS

1 ‘‘(3) provide that, if the head of an agency de2 termines that a contractor has violated a require3 ment under subsection (a), the Department of De4 fense may— 

5 ‘‘(A) withhold or claw back funds from the 

6 contractor until such time as the contractor 

7 ceases to employ or retain the lobbyist; and 

8 ‘‘(B) rescind the contract if the contractor 

9 fails to come into compliance with a require10 ment under subsection (a) in a timely manner. 

11 ‘‘(c) WAIVER.—The Secretary of Defense may waive 

12 the prohibition on a case-by-case basis if the Secretary de13 termines and certifies to the Committee on Armed Serv14 ices of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services 

15 of the House of Representatives that exercising such waiv16 er is necessary to the national security interests of the 

17 United States. 

18 ‘‘(d) LOBBYIST AND LOBBYING FIRM DEFINED.—In 

19 this section, the terms ‘lobbyist’ and ‘lobbying firm’ have 

20 the meaning given the terms in section 3 of the Lobbying 

21 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602).’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

23 at the beginning of chapter 363 of title 10, United States 

24 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

25 section 4662 the following new item: 


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•S 3989 IS

‘‘4663. Prohibition on contracting with companies with lobbying ties to Chinese 

military companies and human rights abusers.’’. 

1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall take effect 30 days after the date of the 

3 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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