I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8286 
To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons that knowingly spread 
malign disinformation as part of or on behalf of a foreign government 
or political party for purposes of political warfare and to require a 
determination regarding the United Front Work Department of the Chi-
nese Communist Party. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 
Mr. BANKS (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, and Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons that 
knowingly spread malign disinformation as part of or 
on behalf of a foreign government or political party for 
purposes of political warfare and to require a determina-
tion regarding the United Front Work Department of 
the Chinese Communist Party. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Chinese 
Propaganda Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The U.S.-China Economic and Security Re-
view Commission has noted that ‘‘China uses what 
it calls United Front [Work Department] of the Chi-
nese Communist Party to co-opt and neutralize 
sources of potential opposition to the policies and 
authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party 
(CCP)’’. 
(2) In 1939, Chinese leader Mao Zedong hailed 
the United Front Work Department as a ‘‘magic 
weapon’’ in the victory of the communist revolution 
along with ‘‘armed struggle’’. 
(3) Chinese President Xi Jinping has also re-
ferred to the United Front Work Department with 
those words and given it a key role in what he calls 
achieving China’s national rejuvenation. 
(4) According to a report by Alex Joske of the 
Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the United 
Front Work Department has doubled in size since 
2015. 
(5) The United Front Work Department is in-
volved in espionage campaigns, political warfare ef-
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forts, malign disinformation, utilizing the Chinese 
diaspora abroad, and infiltration of educational insti-
tutions all with the goal of softening opposition to 
the Chinese Communist Party and its policies 
throughout the world. 
(6) The United Front Work Department played 
a 
seminal 
role 
in 
coordinating 
multifaceted 
disinformation campaigns to blame the United 
States for the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 
2019 (‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic and coverup China’s 
negligent response to the pandemic. 
(7) An investigation by ProPublica released on 
March 26, 2020, found that the United Front Work 
Department was connected to a network of fake and 
hijacked Twitter accounts that were covertly spread-
ing Chinese government propaganda about COVID– 
19 to global audiences. 
(8) The United Front Work Department uti-
lized Chinese diaspora community associations under 
its control to purchase personal protective equipment 
as the COVID–19 outbreak troubled China from 
mid-January 2020 on. 
(9) In February 2020, The Global Times, a site 
run by the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s 
Daily newspaper, alleged that COVID–19 was 
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brought to China from a United States military base 
during the World Games. 
(10) As Sheridan Prasso of Bloomberg has re-
ported, the United Front Work Department has ac-
tively worked to undermine democracy in Hong 
Kong under the umbrella of China’s State Council’s 
Liaison Office by spreading disinformation and acti-
vating a network of media outlets, and diaspora or-
ganizations and pressuring businesses in the city to 
support China’s national security laws. 
(11) The United Front Work Department has 
played an integral role in China’s war on religion by 
leading efforts to publish a new edition of the Bible 
with Chinese Communist characteristics, actively 
running internment camps and carrying out anti-re-
ligion campaigns against Uyghur Muslims in 
Xinjiang and severe religious repression of Bud-
dhists in Tibet. 
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SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FOR-
EIGN PERSONS THAT KNOWINGLY SPREAD 
MALIGN DISINFORMATION AS PART OF OR 
ON BEHALF OF A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OR 
POLITICAL PARTY FOR PURPOSES OF POLIT-
ICAL WARFARE. 
(a) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—The President shall 
impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with re-
spect to any foreign person that the President determines 
knowingly commits a significant act of malign disinforma-
tion on behalf of the government of a foreign country or 
foreign political party which has the direct purpose or ef-
fect of influencing political, diplomatic, or educational ac-
tivities in the United States for the purpose of harming— 
(1) the national security or defense of the 
United States; or 
(2) the safety and security of any United States 
citizen or legal permanent resident. 
(b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions described in 
this subsection with respect to a foreign person de-
termined by the President to be subject to sub-
section (a) are the following: 
(A) ASSET
BLOCKING.—The President 
shall exercise of all powers granted to the Presi-
dent by the International Emergency Economic 
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Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the ex-
tent necessary to block and prohibit all trans-
actions in property and interests in property of 
the foreign person if such property and inter-
ests in property are in the United States, come 
within the United States, or are or come within 
the possession or control of a United States 
person. 
(B) INADMISSIBILITY
OF
CERTAIN
INDI-
VIDUALS.— 
(i) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMIS-
SION, OR PAROLE.—In the case of a for-
eign person who is an individual, the for-
eign person is— 
(I) inadmissible to the United 
States; 
(II) ineligible to receive a visa or 
other documentation to enter the 
United States; and 
(III) otherwise ineligible to be 
admitted or paroled into the United 
States or to receive any other benefit 
under the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.). 
(ii) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 
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(I) IN GENERAL.—In the case of 
a foreign person who is an individual, 
the visa or other documentation 
issued to the person shall be revoked, 
regardless of when such visa or other 
documentation is or was issued. 
(II) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.— 
A revocation under subclause (I) 
shall— 
(aa) take effect immediately; 
and 
(bb) 
automatically 
cancel 
any other valid visa or entry doc-
umentation that is in the per-
son’s possession. 
(2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-
national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 
attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 
violation of regulations promulgated under sub-
section (e) to implement this section to the same ex-
tent that such penalties apply to a person that com-
mits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of 
that Act. 
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(3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA-
TIONS
HEADQUARTERS
AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 
under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to a foreign 
person who is an individual if admitting the person 
into the United States is necessary to permit the 
United States to comply with the Agreement regard-
ing the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 
at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into 
force November 21, 1947, between the United Na-
tions and the United States, or other applicable 
international obligations. 
(c) WAIVER.—The President may, on a case-by-case 
basis and for periods not to exceed 180 days, waive the 
application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign 
person under this section if the President certifies to the 
appropriate congressional committees not later than 15 
days before such waiver is to take effect that the waiver 
is vital to the national security interests of the United 
States. 
(d) IMPLEMENTATION AUTHORITY.—The President 
may exercise all authorities provided to the President 
under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer-
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) 
for purposes of carrying out this section. 
(e) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall promulgate regulations as necessary for the im-
plementation of this section. 
(2) NOTIFICATION
TO
CONGRESS.—Not less 
than 10 days before the promulgation of regulations 
under paragraph (1), the President shall notify and 
provide to the appropriate congressional committees 
the proposed regulations and the provisions of this 
section that the regulations are implementing. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 
and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 
section 101(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(3)). 
(2) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 
Ways and Means, and the Committee on Finan-
cial Services of the House of Representatives; 
and 
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(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs of the Senate. 
(3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-
son’’ means a person that is not a United States 
person. 
(4) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 
means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 
have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 
result. 
(5) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 576.311 of title 
31, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the 
day before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(6) PROPERTY; INTEREST IN PROPERTY.—The 
terms ‘‘property’’ and ‘‘interest in property’’ have 
the meanings given the terms ‘‘property’’ and ‘‘prop-
erty interest’’, respectively, in section 576.312 of 
title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 
the day before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(7) 
UNITED
STATES
PERSON.—The 
term 
‘‘United States person’’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 576.317 of title 31, Code of Federal 
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Regulations, as in effect on the day before the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
(g) SUNSET.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall cease to 
be effective beginning on January 1, 2025. 
(2) INAPPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply with respect to sanctions imposed with respect 
to a foreign person under this section before Janu-
ary 1, 2025. 
SEC. 4. DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPOSI-
TION OF SANCTIONS ON THE UNITED FRONT 
WORK DEPARTMENT OF THE CHINESE COM-
MUNIST PARTY. 
(a) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
State shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a determination, including a detailed justification, 
on whether the United Front Work Department of the 
Chinese Communist Party, or any component or official 
thereof, meets the criteria for the application of sanctions 
pursuant to— 
(1) section 3 of this Act; 
(2) section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky 
Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title 
XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note); 
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(3) section 6 of the Uyghur Human Rights Pol-
icy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–145); or 
(4) Executive Order 13694 (50 U.S.C. 1701 
note; relating to blocking property of certain persons 
engaged in significant malicious cyber-enabled activi-
ties). 
(b) FORM.—The determination required by sub-
section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 
contain a classified annex. 
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Finan-
cial Services, and the Committee on the Judiciary of 
the House of Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, the Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence, the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the Senate. 
Æ 
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