I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2353 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates 
for election for public office to refuse offers of assistance from foreign 
powers and to report such offers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 25, 2019 
Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) 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 
require candidates for election for public office to refuse 
offers of assistance from foreign powers and to report 
such offers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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 ‘‘Duty to Refuse and 
Report Foreign Interference in American Elections Act of 
2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIRING CANDIDATES TO REFUSE OFFERS OF 
ASSISTANCE FROM FOREIGN POWERS AND 
TO REPORT OFFERS TO FBI. 
(a) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 319 of the 
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30121) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES RECEIVING 
OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE FROM FOREIGN POWERS.— 
‘‘(1) DUTY TO REFUSE ASSISTANCE AND RE-
PORT OFFER TO FBI.—If a candidate or any indi-
vidual affiliated with a campaign of a candidate 
knowingly receives an offer for assistance with the 
campaign from a source the candidate or individual 
knows is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign 
power, the candidate or individual shall— 
‘‘(A) refuse the offer for such assistance; 
and 
‘‘(B) notify the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation of the offer not later than 72 hours 
after receiving the offer. 
‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT FOR FED-
ERAL CANDIDATES.—Not later than 10 days after 
the expiration of each calendar quarter, each author-
ized committee of a candidate for election for Fed-
eral office shall file a report with the Commission 
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certifying that the candidate and the individuals af-
filiated with the candidate’s campaign are in compli-
ance with the requirements of paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) PENALTY.—Whoever fails to comply with 
subsection (a) shall be fined not more than 
$250,000, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 
both. 
‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
‘‘(A) The term ‘agent of a foreign power’ 
and the term ‘foreign power’ each has the 
meaning given such term in section 101 of the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 
(50 U.S.C. 1801). 
‘‘(B) The term ‘candidate’ means an indi-
vidual who seeks nomination for, or election to, 
any Federal, State, or local public office. 
‘‘(C) The term ‘individual affiliated with a 
campaign’ means, with respect to a candidate, 
an employee of any organization legally author-
ized under Federal, State, or local law to sup-
port the candidate’s campaign for nomination 
for, or election to, any Federal, State, or local 
public office, as well as any independent con-
tractor of such an organization and any indi-
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vidual who performs services for the organiza-
tion on an unpaid basis (including an intern or 
volunteer).’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall take effect 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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