Title: Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act
This bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to ban campaign contributions and expenditures by corporations that are controlled, influenced, or owned by foreign nationals.
Foreign nationals and such corporations may not make disbursements to political committees that accept donations or contributions that do not comply with the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of FECA.
Corporate political action committees may make contributions and expenditures only if they comply with limitations on the involvement of foreign nationals and such corporations.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1615 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1615

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply the ban on 
 contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals under such Act to 
  foreign-controlled, foreign-influenced, and foreign-owned domestic 
                 corporations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2017

Mr. Raskin (for himself, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. Clark 
  of Massachusetts, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Cooper, Mr. 
  Doggett, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Michelle Lujan 
   Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. 
Jeffries, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Kihuen, Ms. Lee, Ms. 
  Lofgren, Mr. McNerney, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. 
Soto, and Mr. Welch) 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 apply the ban on 
 contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals under such Act to 
  foreign-controlled, foreign-influenced, and foreign-owned domestic 
                 corporations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. 
Elections Act''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF BAN ON CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES BY FOREIGN 
              NATIONALS TO DOMESTIC CORPORATIONS THAT ARE FOREIGN-
              CONTROLLED, FOREIGN-INFLUENCED, AND FOREIGN-OWNED.

    (a) Application of Ban.--Section 319(b) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (1);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) any corporation which is not a foreign national 
        described in paragraph (1) and--
                    ``(A) in which a foreign national described in 
                paragraph (1) or (2) directly or indirectly owns or 
                controls--
                            ``(i) 5 percent or more of the voting 
                        shares, if the foreign national is a foreign 
                        country, a foreign government official, or a 
                        corporation principally owned or controlled by 
                        a foreign country or foreign government 
                        official; or
                            ``(ii) 20 percent or more of the voting 
                        shares, if the foreign national is not 
                        described in clause (i);
                    ``(B) in which two or more foreign nationals 
                described in paragraph (1) or (2), each of whom owns or 
                controls at least 5 percent of the voting shares, 
                directly or indirectly own or control 50 percent or 
                more of the voting shares;
                    ``(C) over which one or more foreign nationals 
                described in paragraph (1) or (2) has the power to 
                direct, dictate, or control the decisionmaking process 
                of the corporation with respect to its interests in the 
                United States; or
                    ``(D) over which one or more foreign nationals 
                described in paragraph (1) or (2) has the power to 
                direct, dictate, or control the decisionmaking process 
                of the corporation with respect to activities in 
                connection with a Federal, State, or local election, 
                including--
                            ``(i) the making of a contribution, 
                        donation, expenditure, independent expenditure, 
                        or disbursement for an electioneering 
                        communication (within the meaning of section 
                        304(f)(3)); or
                            ``(ii) the administration of a political 
                        committee established or maintained by the 
                        corporation.''.
    (b) Certification of Compliance.--Section 319 of such Act (52 
U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(c) Certification of Compliance Required Prior to Carrying Out 
Activity.--Prior to the making in connection with an election for 
Federal office of any contribution, donation, expenditure, independent 
expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication by a 
corporation during a year, the chief executive officer of the 
corporation (or, if the corporation does not have a chief executive 
officer, the highest ranking official of the corporation), shall file a 
certification with the Commission, under penalty of perjury, that the 
corporation is not prohibited from carrying out such activity under 
subsection (b)(3), unless the chief executive officer has previously 
filed such a certification during the year.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect upon the expiration of the period which begins on the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and shall take effect without regard to 
whether or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 
regulations to carry out such amendments.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION OF FOREIGN MONEY BAN TO CERTAIN 
              DISBURSEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Application to Disbursements to Super PACs.--Section 
319(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30121(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the 
following: ``, including any disbursement to a political committee 
which accepts donations or contributions that do not comply with the 
limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act (or 
any disbursement to or on behalf of any account of a political 
committee which is established for the purpose of accepting such 
donations or contributions);''.
    (b) Conditions Under Which Corporate PACs May Make Contributions 
and Expenditures.--Section 316(b) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30118(b)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(8) A separate segregated fund established by a corporation may 
not make a contribution or expenditure during a year unless the year 
the fund has certified to the Commission the following during the year:
            ``(A) Each individual who manages the fund, and who is 
        responsible for exercising the decisionmaking authority of the 
        fund, is a citizen of the United States or is lawfully admitted 
        for permanent residence in the United States.
            ``(B) No foreign national under section 319 participates in 
        any way in the decisionmaking processes of the fund with regard 
        to contributions or expenditures under this Act.
            ``(C) The fund does not solicit or accept recommendations 
        from any foreign national under section 319 with respect to the 
        contributions or expenditures made by the fund.
            ``(D) Any member of the board of directors of the 
        corporation who is a foreign national under section 319 
        abstains from voting on matters concerning the fund or its 
        activities.''.
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