Title: Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require a witness who appears before any committee of the House of Representatives in a nongovernmental capacity to disclose certain amounts received from the Federal Government or a foreign government or certain foreign entities, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This resolution modifies requirements for written statements required of nongovernmental witnesses who appear before standing committees of the House of Representatives. Specifically, the resolution eliminates a requirement that a witness disclose whether they are a fiduciary of an organization or entity that has an interest in the subject matter of the hearing, in favor of a requirement that they disclose whether they are a fiduciary of an entity that has received payments from a specified foreign entity. The resolution also requires nongovernmental witnesses to disclose in their written statement certain contracts with specified foreign persons or entities.
If the committee determines that a witness knowingly and willfully failed to truthfully comply with such disclosure requirements, the witness is prohibited from testifying before the committee for three years.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 805 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 805

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require a witness 
 who appears before any committee of the House of Representatives in a 
nongovernmental capacity to disclose certain amounts received from the 
Federal Government or a foreign government or certain foreign entities, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2021

  Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Mann, Mr. 
 Steube, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Timmons, Mr. Good 
 of Virginia, Mr. Rutherford, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Babin, Mrs. 
  Miller-Meeks, Mr. Carl, Mr. Budd, Mr. Cawthorn, Mr. Weber of Texas, 
Mrs. Hinson, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Posey, Mr. Norman, Mr. Baird, 
 Mr. Crawford, Mr. Fallon, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Rouzer, Ms. Van Duyne, 
Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. Cline, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Murphy of North 
    Carolina, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Allen, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. 
     McClintock, Mr. Keller, and Mr. Mast) submitted the following 
        resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require a witness 
 who appears before any committee of the House of Representatives in a 
nongovernmental capacity to disclose certain amounts received from the 
Federal Government or a foreign government or certain foreign entities, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT FOR A WITNESS TO DISCLOSE CERTAIN AMOUNTS 
              RECEIVED.

    (a) In General.--Clause 2(g)(5)(B) of rule XI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(B) In the case of a witness appearing in a 
                nongovernmental capacity, a written statement of 
                proposed testimony shall include--
                            ``(i) a curriculum vitae;
                            ``(ii) a disclosure of any Federal grants 
                        or contracts received during the past 36 months 
                        by the witness, an entity represented by the 
                        witness, or an entity with respect to which the 
                        witness is employed or under contract;
                            ``(iii) a disclosure of any contracts, 
                        grants, or payments, including payments in 
                        kind, originating with a foreign government, 
                        foreign political party, or foreign state-owned 
                        enterprise (or any subsidiary, agent, or 
                        instrumentality of a foreign government, 
                        foreign political party, or foreign-state owned 
                        enterprise) received during the past 36 months 
                        by the witness, an entity represented by the 
                        witness, an entity with respect to which the 
                        witness is employed, or an entity the witness 
                        is under contract with if the witness received 
                        aggregate payments under such contract in an 
                        amount greater than $5,000 in the last 12 
                        months;
                            ``(iv) a disclosure of whether the witness 
                        is a fiduciary (including, but not limited to, 
                        a director, officer, advisor, resident agent, 
                        or fellow) of any entity which has received 
                        payments originating with a foreign government, 
                        foreign political party, or foreign state-owned 
                        enterprise (or any subsidiary, agent, or 
                        instrumentality of a foreign government, 
                        foreign political party, or foreign-state owned 
                        enterprise) during the past 36 months;
                            ``(v) a disclosure of any contracts with a 
                        foreign government, foreign political party, or 
                        foreign state-owned enterprise (or any 
                        subsidiary, agent, or instrumentality of a 
                        foreign government, foreign political party, or 
                        foreign-state owned enterprise) that the 
                        witness, an entity represented by the witness, 
                        or an entity with respect to which the witness 
                        is employed or under contract applied for in 
                        the past 12 months but under which no payments 
                        have been received;
                            ``(vi) a disclosure of any contracts with a 
                        foreign government, foreign political party, or 
                        foreign state-owned enterprise (or any 
                        subsidiary, agent, or instrumentality of a 
                        foreign government, foreign political party, or 
                        foreign-state owned enterprise) that is in 
                        effect on the date the witness submits the 
                        written statement of proposed testimony under 
                        which the foreign government, foreign political 
                        party, or foreign state-owned enterprise agrees 
                        to provide the witness, or a business owned by 
                        the witness, with payment for the provision of 
                        advisory, consulting, or other services to 
                        advance the interests of such foreign 
                        government, foreign political party, or foreign 
                        state-owned enterprise; and
                            ``(vii) a disclosure of any contracts with 
                        a foreign person subject to the jurisdiction or 
                        direction of the government of the People's 
                        Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the 
                        Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic 
                        People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of 
                        Cuba, or the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 
                        that is in effect on the date the witness 
                        submits the written statement of proposed 
                        testimony under which the foreign person agrees 
                        to provide the witness with payment for the 
                        provision of advisory, consulting, or other 
                        services to advance the interests of a foreign 
                        government described in this item.''.
    (b) Content of Disclosure.--Clause 2(g)(5)(C) of rule XI of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended--
            (1) by striking ``disclosure'' and inserting 
        ``disclosures'';
            (2) by inserting ``, subdivision (B)(iii), subdivision 
        (B)(v), subdivision (B)(vi), and subdivision (B)(vii)'' after 
        ``subdivision (B)(ii)'';
            (3) in item (i), by striking ``related to the subject 
        matter of the hearing''; and
            (4) in item (ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``related to the subject matter of 
                the hearing''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, foreign political party, or 
                foreign state-owned enterprise (or any subsidiary, 
                agent, or instrumentality of a foreign government, 
                foreign political party, or foreign-state owned 
                enterprise)'' after ``foreign government''.
    (c) Penalty for Knowing and Willful Noncompliance.--Clause 2(g) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (7) as subparagraph (8); 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (6) the following new 
        subparagraph:
            ``(7) With respect to a witness described in subparagraph 
        (5)(B), if the committee before which the witness appears 
        determines at any time that the witness knowingly and willfully 
        failed to truthfully comply with the disclosure requirements 
        under subparagraph (5), such witness shall not be allowed to 
        appear before such committee to provide testimony for a period 
        of 3 years beginning on the date such determination is made.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section shall apply with respect to any witness who appears before any 
committee of the House of Representatives in a nongovernmental capacity 
on or after the date of enactment of this resolution.
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