362 
the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives. 
(2) EXTENSION
AUTHORITY.—The President 
may activate the response team for an additional 
180 days upon the submission of a detailed analysis 
to the committees described in paragraph (1) justi-
fying why the continued deployment of the economic 
defense response team in response to the economic 
emergency is in the national security interest of the 
United States. 
(d) SUNSET.—The authorities provided under this 
section shall expire on December 31, 2026. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Neither the authority 
to declare an economic crisis provided for in subsection 
(d), nor the declaration of an economic crisis pursuant to 
subsection (d), shall confer or be construed to confer any 
authority, power, duty, or responsibility to the President 
other than the authority to activate an economic defense 
response team as described in this section. 
(f) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit-
tees of Congress’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af-
fairs, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
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Transportation, the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources, the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry, and the Committee on Finance 
of the Senate; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Agri-
culture, and the Committee on Ways and Means of 
the House of Representatives. 
SEC. 403. COUNTERING OVERSEAS KLEPTOCRACY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Authoritarian leaders in foreign countries 
abuse their power to steal assets from state institu-
tions, enrich themselves at the expense of their coun-
tries’ economic development, and use corruption as 
a strategic tool both to solidify their grip on power 
and to undermine democratic institutions abroad. 
(2) Global corruption harms the competitiveness 
of United States businesses, weakens democratic 
governance, 
feeds 
terrorist 
recruitment 
and 
transnational organized crime, enables drug smug-
gling and human trafficking, and stymies economic 
growth. 
(3) Illicit financial flows often penetrate coun-
tries through what appear to be legitimate financial 
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transactions, as kleptocrats launder money, use shell 
companies, amass offshore wealth, and participate in 
a global shadow economy. 
(4) The Government of the Russian Federation 
is a leading model of this type of kleptocratic sys-
tem, using state-sanctioned corruption to both erode 
democratic governance from within and discredit de-
mocracy abroad, thereby strengthening the authori-
tarian rule of Vladimir Putin. 
(5) Corrupt individuals and entities in the Rus-
sian Federation, often with the backing and encour-
agement of political leadership, use stolen money— 
(A) to purchase key assets in other coun-
tries, often with a goal of attaining monopolistic 
control of a sector; 
(B) to gain access to and influence the 
policies of other countries; and 
(C) to advance Russian interests in other 
countries, particularly those that undermine 
confidence and trust in democratic systems. 
(6) Systemic corruption in the People’s Repub-
lic of China, often tied to, directed by, or backed by 
the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and 
the Chinese Government is used— 
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(A) to provide unfair advantage to certain 
People’s Republic of China economic entities; 
(B) to increase other countries’ economic 
dependence on the People’s Republic of China 
to secure greater deference to the People’s Re-
public of China’s diplomatic and strategic goals; 
and 
(C) to exploit corruption in foreign govern-
ments and among other political elites to enable 
People’s Republic of China state-backed firms 
to pursue predatory and exploitative economic 
practices. 
(7) Thwarting these tactics by Russian, Chi-
nese, and other kleptocratic actors requires the 
international community to strengthen democratic 
governance and the rule of law. International co-
operation in combating corruption and illicit finance 
is vital to such efforts, especially by empowering re-
formers in foreign countries during historic political 
openings for the establishment of the rule of law in 
those countries. 
(8) Technical assistance programs that combat 
corruption and strengthen the rule of law, including 
through assistance provided by the Department of 
State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law 
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Enforcement Affairs and the United States Agency 
for International Development, and through pro-
grams like the Department of Justice’s Office of 
Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and 
Training and the International Criminal Investiga-
tive Training Assistance Program, can have lasting 
and significant impacts for both foreign and United 
States interests. 
(9) There currently exist numerous inter-
national 
instruments 
to 
combat 
corruption, 
kleptocracy, and illicit finance, including— 
(A) the Inter-American Convention against 
Corruption of the Organization of American 
States, done at Caracas March 29, 1996; 
(B) the Convention on Combating Bribery 
of Foreign Public Officials in International 
Business Transactions of the Organisation of 
Economic Co-operation and Development, done 
at Paris December 21, 1997 (commonly re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Anti-Bribery Convention’’); 
(C) the United Nations Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime, done at New 
York November 15, 2000; 
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