Congressional and Executive Foreign Lobbying Ban Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8174 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8174

   To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to prohibit 
 certain individuals from service as an agent of a foreign principal, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 2024

 Mr. Golden of Maine introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to prohibit 
 certain individuals from service as an agent of a foreign principal, 
                        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 ``Congressional and Executive Foreign 
Lobbying Ban Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FROM ACTING AS AGENTS OF 
              FOREIGN PRINCIPALS.

    (a) Former Members of Congress; General or Flag Officers of Armed 
Forces.--
            (1) Prohibiting registration as agent.--The Foreign Agents 
        Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by redesignating sections 12 through 14 as 
                sections 13 through 15; and
                    (B) by inserting after section 11 the following new 
                section:

``SEC. 12. PROHIBITING REGISTRATION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--No individual may register under this Act or 
otherwise serve as the agent of a foreign principal if the individual 
at any time served as a Member of Congress, as a senior political 
appointee, or as a general or flag officer of the Armed Forces.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `Member of Congress' means a Senator or 
        Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 
        Congress; and
            ``(2) the term `senior political appointee'--
                    ``(A) means--
                            ``(i) any individual occupying a full-time 
                        senior position and who is appointed by the 
                        President or the Vice President;(ii) any 
                        noncareer appointee in the Senior Executive 
                        Service (or other SES-type system); and
                            ``(iii) any appointee to a position, at or 
                        above the level of a noncareer member of the 
                        Senior Executive Service, that has been 
                        excepted from the competitive service by reason 
                        of being of a confidential or policymaking 
                        character (schedule C and other positions 
                        excepted under comparable criteria) in an 
                        executive agency; and
                    ``(B) does not include any individual appointed as 
                a member of the Senior Foreign Service or, except for a 
                general or flag officer of the Armed Forces, solely as 
                a uniformed service commissioned officer.''.
            (2) Other representation of foreign entities.--Section 
        207(f)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
        inserting after ``within 1 year'' the following: ``(or, in the 
        case of a person who is subject to any of such restrictions and 
        who is a Member of Congress, a senior political appointee (as 
        that term is defined in section 12 of the Foreign Agents 
        Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.)), 
        or a general or flag officer of the Armed Forces, at any 
        time)''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to any individual whose service as a Member of 
Congress, a senior political appointee (as that term is defined in 
section 12(b)(2) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) (as added by subsection (a)), or as a 
general or flag officer of the Armed Forces terminates on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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