I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 138 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contribu-
tions and expenditures by multicandidate political committees controlled 
by foreign-owned corporations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 5, 2011 
Ms. KAPTUR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on House Administration, 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 jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 
prohibit contributions and expenditures by multi-
candidate political committees controlled by foreign- 
owned corporations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ethics in Foreign Lob-
bying Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI-
TURES 
BY 
MULTICANDIDATE 
POLITICAL 
COMMITTEES OR SEPARATE SEGREGATED 
FUNDS 
SPONSORED 
BY 
FOREIGN-CON-
TROLLED 
CORPORATIONS 
AND 
ASSOCIA-
TIONS. 
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
1971 (2 U.S.C. 441 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES 
BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEES SPON-
SORED
BY
FOREIGN-CONTROLLED
CORPORATIONS 
AND ASSOCIATIONS 
‘‘SEC. 325. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law— 
‘‘(1) no multicandidate political committee or 
separate segregated fund of a foreign-controlled cor-
poration may make any contribution or expenditure 
with respect to an election for Federal office; and 
‘‘(2) no multicandidate political committee or 
separate segregated fund of a trade organization, 
membership organization, cooperative, or corporation 
without capital stock may make any contribution or 
expenditure with respect to an election for Federal 
office if 50 percent or more of the operating fund of 
the trade organization, membership organization, co-
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‘‘(c) The Commission shall maintain a list of the 
identity of the multicandidate political committees or sepa-
rate segregated funds that file reports under subsection 
(b), including a statement of the amounts and percentage 
reported by such multicandidate political committees or 
separate segregated funds. 
‘‘(d) As used in this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘foreign-owned corporation’ 
means a corporation at least 50 percent of the own-
ership interest of which is controlled by persons 
other than citizens or nationals of the United States; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘multicandidate political com-
mittee’ has the meaning given that term in section 
315(a)(4); 
‘‘(3) the term ‘separate segregated fund’ means 
a separate segregated fund referred to in section 
316(b)(2)(C); and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘foreign national’ has the mean-
ing given that term in section 319.’’. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ELECTION-RELATED AC-
TIVITIES OF FOREIGN NATIONALS. 
Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441e) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection: 
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‘‘(c) A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, con-
trol, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision-
making process of any person, such as a corporation, labor 
organization, or political committee, with regard to such 
person’s Federal or non-Federal election-related activities, 
such as decisions concerning the making of contributions 
or expenditures in connection with elections for any local, 
State, or Federal office or decisions concerning the admin-
istration of a political committee.’’. 
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A CLEARINGHOUSE OF POLIT-
ICAL ACTIVITIES INFORMATION WITHIN THE 
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be established 
within the Federal Election Commission a clearinghouse 
of public information regarding the political activities of 
foreign principals and agents of foreign principals. The in-
formation comprising this clearinghouse shall include only 
the following: 
(1) All registrations and reports filed pursuant 
to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 
1601 et seq.) during the preceding 5-year period. 
(2) All registrations and reports filed pursuant 
to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as amended 
(22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.), during the preceding 5-year 
period. 
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(3) The listings of public hearings, hearing wit-
nesses, and witness affiliations printed in the Con-
gressional Record during the preceding 5-year pe-
riod. 
(4) Public information disclosed pursuant to the 
rules of the Senate or the House of Representatives 
regarding honoraria, the receipt of gifts, travel, and 
earned and unearned income. 
(5) All reports filed pursuant to title I of the 
Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) 
during the preceding 5-year period. 
(6) All public information filed with the Federal 
Election Commission pursuant to the Federal Elec-
tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) 
during the preceding 5-year period. 
(b) DISCLOSURE OF OTHER INFORMATION PROHIB-
ITED.—The disclosure by the clearinghouse, or any officer 
or employee thereof, of any information other than that 
set forth in subsection (a) is prohibited, except as other-
wise provided by law. 
(c) DIRECTOR OF CLEARINGHOUSE.—(1) The clear-
inghouse shall have a Director, who shall administer and 
manage the responsibilities and all activities of the clear-
inghouse. 
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(2) The Director shall be appointed by the Federal 
Election Commission. 
(3) The period of the Director’s term of service shall 
be determined by the Commission, but may not exceed 5 
years. 
(4) No individual appointed to serve a term as the 
Director may serve for an additional term. 
(d) ENSURING SUFFICIENT STAFF AND OTHER RE-
SOURCES.—The Commission shall ensure that the Direc-
tor has sufficient resources, including staff, to carry out 
the Director’s duties and responsibilities under this Act. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to conduct the activities of the clearinghouse. 
SEC. 5. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR 
OF THE CLEARINGHOUSE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the duty of the Direc-
tor of the clearinghouse established under section 4— 
(1) to develop a filing, coding, and cross-index-
ing system to carry out the purposes of this Act 
(which shall include an index of all persons identi-
fied in the reports, registrations, and other informa-
tion comprising the clearinghouse); 
(2) notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
to make copies of registrations, reports, and other 
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information comprising the clearinghouse available 
for public inspection and copying, beginning not 
later than 30 days after the information is first 
available to the public, and to permit copying of any 
such registration, report, or other information by 
hand or by copying machine or, at the request of 
any person, to furnish a copy of any such registra-
tion, report, or other information upon payment of 
the cost of making and furnishing such copy, except 
that no information contained in such registration or 
report and no such other information shall be sold 
or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting 
contributions or for any profit-making purpose; 
(3) to compile and summarize, for each cal-
endar quarter, the information contained in such 
registrations, reports, and other information com-
prising the clearinghouse in a manner which facili-
tates the disclosure of political activities, including, 
but not limited to, information on— 
(A) political activities pertaining to issues 
before the Congress and issues before the exec-
utive branch; and 
(B) the political activities of individuals, 
organizations, foreign principals, and agents of 
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foreign principals who share an economic, busi-
ness, or other common interest; 
(4) to make the information compiled and sum-
marized under paragraph (3) available to the public 
within 30 days after the close of each calendar quar-
ter, and to publish such information in the Federal 
Register at the earliest practicable opportunity; 
(5) not later than 150 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act and at any time there-
after, to prescribe, in consultation with the Comp-
troller General, such rules, regulations, and forms, 
in conformity with the provisions of chapter 5 of 
title 5, United States Code, as are necessary to 
carry out the provisions of section 4 and this section 
in the most effective and efficient manner; and 
(6) at the request of any Member of the Senate 
or Member of the House of Representatives, to pre-
pare and submit to such Member a study or report 
relating to the political activities of any person and 
consisting only of the information in the registra-
tions, reports, and other information comprising the 
clearinghouse. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 
(1) the terms ‘‘foreign principal’’ and ‘‘agent of 
a foreign principal’’ have the meanings given those 
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terms in section 1 of the Foreign Agents Registra-
tion Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611); 
(2) the term ‘‘issue before the Congress’’ means 
the total of all matters, both substantive and proce-
dural, relating to— 
(A) any pending or proposed bill, resolu-
tion, report, nomination, treaty, hearing, inves-
tigation, or other similar matter in either the 
Senate or the House of Representatives or any 
committee or office of the Congress; or 
(B) any pending action by a Member, offi-
cer, or employee of the Congress to affect, or 
attempt to affect, any action or proposed action 
by any officer or employee of the executive 
branch; 
(3) the term ‘‘issue before the executive 
branch’’ means the total of all matters, both sub-
stantive and procedural, relating to any pending ac-
tion by any executive agency, or by any officer or 
employee of the executive branch, concerning— 
(A) any pending or proposed rule, rule of 
practice, adjudication, regulation, determina-
tion, hearing, investigation, contract, grant, li-
cense, negotiation, or the appointment of offi-
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cers and employees, other than appointments in 
the competitive service; or 
(B) any issue before the Congress; and 
(4) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com-
missioner to the Congress. 
SEC. 6. PENALTIES FOR DISCLOSURE. 
Any person who discloses information in violation of 
section 4(b), and any person who sells or uses information 
for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for any prof-
it-making purpose in violation of section 5(a)(2), shall be 
imprisoned for a period of not more than 1 year, or fined 
under title 18, United States Code, or both. 
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN AGENTS REG-
ISTRATION ACT OF 1938. 
(a) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Section 2(b) of the For-
eign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612(b)), 
is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘, within thir-
ty days’’ and all that follows through ‘‘preceding six 
months’ period’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘on January 
31, April 30, July 31, and October 31 of each year, file 
with the Attorney General a supplement thereto on a form 
prescribed by the Attorney General, which shall set forth 
regarding the three-month periods ending the previous De-
cember 31, March 31, June 30, and September 30, respec-
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tively, or if a lesser period, the period since the initial fil-
ing,’’. 
(b) EXEMPTION
FOR LEGAL REPRESENTATION.— 
Section 3(g) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 
1938 (22 U.S.C. 613(g)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: ‘‘A person may be exempt under this sub-
section only upon filing with the Attorney General a re-
quest for such exemption.’’. 
(c) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 8 of the Foreign 
Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 618) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i)(1) Any person who is determined, after notice 
and opportunity for an administrative hearing— 
‘‘(A) to have failed to file a registration state-
ment under section 2(a) or a supplement thereto 
under section 2(b), 
‘‘(B) to have omitted a material fact required to 
be stated therein, or 
‘‘(C) to have made a false statement with re-
spect to such a material fact, 
shall be required to pay a civil penalty in an amount not 
less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 for each violation 
committed. In determining the amount of the penalty, the 
Attorney General shall give due consideration to the na-
ture and duration of the violation. 
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‘‘(2)(A) In conducting investigations and hearings 
under paragraph (1), administrative law judges may, if 
necessary, compel by subpoena the attendance of witnesses 
and the production of evidence at any designated place 
or hearing. 
‘‘(B) In the case of contumacy or refusal to obey a 
subpoena lawfully issued under this paragraph and, upon 
application by the Attorney General, an appropriate dis-
trict court of the United States may issue an order requir-
ing compliance with such subpoena and any failure to obey 
such order may be punished by such court as contempt 
thereof.’’. 
Æ 
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