I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1237 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a person 

from knowingly providing substantial assistance relating to a contribution 

or donation by a foreign national, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2021 

Ms. HOULAHAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

prohibit a person from knowingly providing substantial 

assistance relating to a contribution or donation by a 

foreign national, 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 ‘‘Stop Supporting For5 eign Interference in Our Democracy Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF SUBSTANTIAL AS2 SISTANCE RELATING TO CONTRIBUTION OR 

3 DONATION BY FOREIGN NATIONALS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 319 of the Federal Elec5 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para9 graph (1)(C); 

10 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

11 paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(3) a person to knowingly provide substantial 

14 assistance to another person in carrying out an ac15 tivity described in paragraph (1) or (2).’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub17 sections: 

18 ‘‘(c) KNOWINGLY DESCRIBED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

20 (a)(3), the term ‘knowingly’ means actual knowl21 edge, awareness of pertinent facts that would lead a 

22 reasonable person to conclude there is a substantial 

23 probability, or awareness of pertinent facts that 

24 would lead a reasonable person to conduct a reason25 able inquiry to establish— 


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1 ‘‘(A) with respect to an activity described 

2 in subsection (a)(1), that the contribution, do3 nation, expenditure, independent expenditure, 

4 or disbursement is from a foreign national; and 

5 ‘‘(B) with respect to an activity described 

6 in subsection (a)(2), that the contribution or 

7 donation solicited, accepted, or received is from 

8 a foreign national. 

9 ‘‘(2) PERTINENT FACTS.—For purposes of 

10 paragraph (1), pertinent facts include, but are not 

11 limited to, that the person making the contribution, 

12 donation, expenditure, independent expenditure, or 

13 disbursement, or that the person from whom the 

14 contribution or donation is solicited, accepted, or re15 ceived— 

16 ‘‘(A) uses a foreign passport or passport 

17 number for identification purposes; 

18 ‘‘(B) provides a foreign address; 

19 ‘‘(C) uses a check or other written instru20 ment drawn on a foreign bank, or by a wire 

21 transfer from a foreign bank, in carrying out 

22 the activity; or 

23 ‘‘(D) resides abroad. 

24 ‘‘(d) SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE DEFINED.—As used 

25 in this section, the term ‘substantial assistance’ means, 


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1 with respect to an activity prohibited by paragraph (1) or 

2 (2) of subsection (a), involvement with an intent to facili3 tate successful completion of the activity.’’. 

Æ 


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