II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2583 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to limit the exemption 

from the registration requirements of such Act for persons engaging 

in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, 

or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do not promote 

the political agenda of a foreign government, to amend the Higher 

Education Act of 1965 to clarify the disclosures of foreign gifts by 

institutions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 21, 2018 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. COTTON) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 

to limit the exemption from the registration requirements 

of such Act for persons engaging in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do 

not promote the political agenda of a foreign government, 

to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify 

the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Influence 

3 Transparency Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG5 ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN6 GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF 

7 CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO8 MOTING POLITICAL AGENDA OF FOREIGN 

9 GOVERNMENTS. 

10 (a) LIMITATION ON EXEMPTION.—Section 3(e) of the 

11 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

12 613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end 

13 and inserting the following: ‘‘, but only if the activities 

14 do not promote the political agenda of a government of 

15 a foreign country;’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried 

18 out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (a)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘the value of which is 

24 $250,000 or more, considered alone or in com25 bination with all other gifts from or contracts 

26 within’’ and inserting ‘‘the value of which is 


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1 $50,000 or more for such gift from or contract 

2 with that foreign source within’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘alone or’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (b)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 

6 by inserting before the period at the end the 

7 following: ‘‘, and the content of each such con8 tract’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 

10 the period the following: ‘‘, and the content of 

11 each such contract’’; 

12 (3) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including 

13 the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’; and 

14 (4) in subsection (h)(3), by inserting before the 

15 semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the fair 

16 market value of an in-kind gift’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received 

19 or contracts entered into, or other activities carried out, 

20 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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