House Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Compel Retroactive FARA Registration

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) speaks to reporters after a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 21, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) talks to the media after the closing arguments of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington on Feb. 3, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

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 CCP influence and the real harms it can have on our economy and national security,” he said. “I’m eager to work with Chairman Gallagher and my bipartisan colleagues to introduce this bill and ensure that the American people have the transparency they deserve and the protections they need.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Dusty Johnson, (R-S.D.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), and Shontel Brown (D-Ohio).

A companion bill was introduced in the Senate on July 11 by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who said the legislation would close loopholes in the FARA.

“If an individual works to influence policy on behalf of foreign interests, there should be no loophole that allows them to avoid disclosing their efforts,” Mr. Grassley said. “Foreign agents who fail to register during their service must come clean and wash the grease off their hands even after they’ve left the job.”