Bipartisan bill compels retroactive FARA registration by House lawmakers.

A Bipartisan Effort to Counter Foreign Influence

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on July 11 announced a proposal that would compel individuals who have worked for foreign governments, particularly the Chinese communist regime, to retroactively register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), along with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, introduced the bill, which is aimed at strengthening the enforcement of FARA to counter the CCP’s influence on U.S. soil.

“At a time when the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and other adversaries are using foreign agents to mount influence campaigns and wantonly perpetrate transnational repression in our country, as an absolute baseline, we need to enforce FARA’s intended transparency standards in order to counter the CCP’s malign designs,” Mr. Gallagher said in a statement, referring to the official name of China.

The measure, named the Retroactive Foreign Agents Registration Act, seeks to ensure that the obligation to register wouldn’t expire even after those unregistered foreign agents are no longer performing that work.

The introduction of the new legislation came after a federal judge in Washington last year dismissed the Justice Department’s (DOJ) attempt to compel an individual to register under the FARA as an agent of the Chinese regime.

In the ruling, the U.S. district judge said that because any ties between the individual with the Chinese regime had terminated before the lawsuit, the DOJ was barred from requiring the person to register as a foreign agent.

Mr. Gallagher’s bill (pdf) proposes several FARA amendments to “clarify the obligation of individuals who formerly served as agents of foreign principals to register retroactively as foreign agents under the Act with respect to activities carried out previously on behalf of such foreign principals, and for other purposes.”

“Congress needs to restore FARA to its original, critical function after the D.C. District Court’s absurd ruling last October defanged the statute,” he said in the statement.

Mr. Krishnamoorthi highlighted the role of FARA in clamping down on undisclosed CCP influence on U.S. soil.

“FARA is one of our best tools to shine a light on foreign influence and protect our national security. This legislation will ensure that individuals who have worked for foreign governments, especially the Chinese communist regime, are held accountable and transparent about their activities,” he stated.