WASHINGTON U.S. Congressmen August Pfluger (TX-11) and Jason Crow (CO-06), and U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced the Preventing Adversary Influence, Disinformation and Obscured Foreign Financing (PAID OFF) Act, which would help close Foreign Agents Registration Act loopholes that allow unregistered agents of foreign adversaries to lobby in the United States:
“It is clear that our nation’s adversaries are looking to find avenues to influence our government and policymaking decisions, including exploiting loopholes that allow a backdoor for unregistered foreign agents to lobby on behalf of authoritarian regimes like the People’s Republic of China and Russia,” Pfluger said in the press release. “I am proud to co-lead this bipartisan, bicameral legislation with Senator Cornyn to close these loopholes and ensure we can properly combat foreign malign influence in our nation.”
“For too long, America’s adversaries have taken advantage of loopholes in our lobbying system to influence policymaking through multimillion-dollar disinformation campaigns,” Cornyn said in the press release. “This bipartisan legislation closes those loopholes by requiring foreign agents from countries like China and Russia to register and disclose political activity to the Department of Justice.”
“When foreign adversaries skirt loopholes to lobby Congress, they directly threaten our democracy,” Whitehouse said in the press release. “This bipartisan amendment is long overdue and will help prevent unregistered foreign agents from putting a thumb on the scale of American policy.”
“As we face the rise of adversaries like Russia and China, the U.S. must make clear that we will not tolerate foreign agents who seek to undermine our democracy by operating in the shadows,” Crow said in the press release. “The bipartisan PAID OFF Act would close the lobbyist loophole that allows misinformation to spread unchecked. We should pursue every avenue to end this corrupt influence and protect our national security.”
This legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Deb Fischer (R-NE).
