IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 458 
Requiring foreign state media outlets with credentialed members in the House 
news media galleries to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration 
Act by prohibiting the admission into such galleries of reporters and 
correspondents who are representatives of such outlets who are not 
in compliance with the requirements of such Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 31, 2023 
Mr. BERGMAN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on House Admin-
istration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Requiring foreign state media outlets with credentialed mem-
bers in the House news media galleries to comply with 
the Foreign Agents Registration Act by prohibiting the 
admission into such galleries of reporters and cor-
respondents who are representatives of such outlets who 
are not in compliance with the requirements of such 
Act, and for other purposes. 
Whereas freedom of the press is essential for a functioning 
democracy, which is why Congress grants unparalleled 
access on Capitol Hill to journalists who are credentialed 
members of the Congressional Media Galleries; 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Whereas there is broad bipartisan agreement, however, that 
media outlets owned or controlled by foreign state actors 
cannot be afforded the same privileges as traditional 
media; 
Whereas, while the extraordinary access inside Capitol Hill 
granted to credentialed members of the media helps fa-
cilitate accurate reporting to the American public, it is 
also the kind of access coveted by foreign powers seeking 
sensitive information from inside Congress, and those 
with State-sponsored media outlets currently can easily 
obtain such access, even if they openly flout United 
States laws; 
Whereas, in order to effectively safeguard the national secu-
rity interests of the United States, foreign State-spon-
sored media outlets must be required to strictly comply 
with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 
(FARA) and other United States laws as a prerequisite 
for their journalists to receive credentials in the Congres-
sional Media Galleries; 
Whereas several foreign countries with reported histories of 
spying on Americans, such as Russia, Qatar, and China, 
own and control State-sponsored media outlets whose 
journalists in recent years have been credentialed by the 
House and Senate Media Galleries; 
Whereas over the past decade, the People’s Republic of 
China, Russia, and the State of Qatar have aggressively 
deployed their espionage forces against United States 
Government agencies and government officials, as well as 
targeting thousands of United States businesses and 
Americans perceived to be opponents or dissidents of 
their regimes; 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Whereas, in January and February 2023, for example, the 
People’s Republic of China brazenly launched a surveil-
lance balloon over the continental United States, which 
was part of a repeated pattern by China, and as a result 
of China’s long history of targeting Americans, the De-
partment of Justice has indicted dozens of entities affili-
ated with the Chinese Government for cyberattacks and 
surveillance, and the United States Government in July 
2020 took the extraordinary measure of closing the Chi-
nese Consulate in Houston, Texas, because of espionage 
operations being carried out in the Mission; 
Whereas, despite China’s extensive surveillance operations 
targeting Americans, media outlets registered as Chinese 
agents under FARA had over two dozen journalists who 
had received credentials from the Congressional Media 
Galleries in the 118th Congress, and another 16 journal-
ists received credentials in the 118th Congress through 
media outlets reportedly owned or controlled by senior 
members of the Chinese Communist Party, including two 
journalists who received credentials through the China 
News Service, which is not registered under FARA, but 
which was designated in June 2020 by the Department 
of States as a ‘‘foreign mission’’ because the outlet was 
‘‘effectively controlled by the Chinese Government’’; 
Whereas the State of Qatar has reportedly engaged in exten-
sive espionage and surveillance operations to target 
American political leaders who have been up for consider-
ation for top Cabinet positions in both the Trump and 
Biden administrations, as well as numerous senior Mem-
bers of Congress, and in 2018, for example, Qatari 
agents reportedly helped generate multiple high-profile 
media articles based on hacked materials to target then- 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed 
Royce because of his committee’s support of the Hamas 
Sanctions Bill, which was opposed by the State of Qatar; 
Whereas the State of Qatar’s State-sponsored media com-
pany, Al Jazeera, reportedly also was deployed to carry 
out surveillance operations targeting young pro-Israel ac-
tivists at several nonprofit organizations based in Wash-
ington, DC; 
Whereas, despite the State of Qatar’s and Al Jazeera’s exten-
sive surveillance operations targeting Americans, at least 
136 Al Jazeera journalists received credentials from the 
House and Senate Media Galleries in the 118th Con-
gress, dramatically more than the 82 New York Times 
journalists who had received such credentials; 
Whereas Al Jazeera journalists were afforded the privilege of 
credentials, even though the Department of Justice had 
determined since at least 2018 that Al Jazeera’s parent 
entity, the Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN), and its 
various subsidiaries qualify as foreign agents of Qatar 
under FARA, and in a September 14, 2020, letter, the 
Department of Justice stated, ‘‘AJMN is an agent of the 
Government of Qatar under FARA’’, and also stated, 
‘‘AJMN and its affiliates are controlled and funded by 
the Government of Qatar’’ and that the ‘‘Government of 
Qatar has ultimate authority through its control of 
AJMN’s Board of Directors and AJMN’s budget [and] 
exercises ultimate control of AJMN.’’; 
Whereas, in order to preserve the extraordinary access pro-
vided to credentialed journalists in the Congressional 
Media Galleries, it is imperative to limit the number of 
credentials available to reporters affiliated with any given 
foreign State-sponsored media outlet; 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Whereas journalists with foreign State-sponsored media out-
lets should only be eligible to apply for credentials to the 
Congressional Media Galleries after they have undergone 
background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI); and 
Whereas this legislation aims to enhance the national security 
of the United States by limiting the access of foreign 
State-sponsored media outlets to credentials from the 
House Media Galleries and by requiring the FBI to per-
form background checks of journalists with those outlets 
in order to be eligible to receive such credentials: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION OF FOREIGN 
REPORTERS AND CORRESPONDENTS INTO 
HOUSE NEWS MEDIA GALLERIES. 
Rule VI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 
‘‘4.(a) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 
2 or clause 3, a reporter or correspondent who is a rep-
resentative of a noncompliant foreign state media outlet 
shall not be admitted into the portion of the gallery de-
scribed in clause 2 or clause 3 (as the case may be). In 
this paragraph, a ‘noncompliant foreign state media out-
let’ means a foreign state media outlet which either— 
‘‘(1) is not registered as the agent of a foreign 
principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act 
of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) not-
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•HRES 458 IH 
withstanding that the outlet is designated as a for-
eign mission by the Secretary of State or is deter-
mined by the Attorney General to be an agent of a 
foreign principal for purposes of such Act; or 
‘‘(2) is registered as the agent of a foreign prin-
cipal under such Act but is not otherwise in compli-
ance with the applicable requirements of such Act. 
‘‘(b) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 
2 or clause 3, not more than 10 reporters or correspond-
ents who are representatives of the same foreign state 
media outlet, including representatives of any outlet which 
is owned or controlled by the same foreign state media 
outlet, may be admitted into the portion of the gallery de-
scribed in clause 2 or 3 (as the case may be). 
‘‘(c) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 
2 or clause 3, a reporter or correspondent who is a rep-
resentative of a foreign state media outlet shall not be ad-
mitted into the portion of the gallery described in clause 
2 or 3 (as the case may be) unless the reporter or cor-
respondent certifies to the Speaker that— 
‘‘(1) during the 6-month period which ends on 
the date the reporter or correspondent is to be ad-
mitted, the reporter or correspondent has undergone 
a background check conducted by the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation; and 
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