No More Ghost Money Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 324 To prohibit monetary payments by the Federal Government to employees, officers, and elected officials of foreign countries for purposes of bribery, coercion, or any activity that is illegal or undermines the rule of law or corrupts a public officer or the office such officer represents, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 8, 2019 Ms. LEE of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit monetary payments by the Federal Government to employees, officers, and elected officials of foreign countries for purposes of bribery, coercion, or any activ- ity that is illegal or undermines the rule of law or cor- rupts a public officer or the office such officer represents, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H324.IH H324 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 324 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No More Ghost Money 2 Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds the following: 5 (1) On May 4, 2013, President of Afghanistan 6 Hamid Karzai revealed that the Central Intelligence 7 Agency regularly made cash payments to his office. 8 (2) The corrupt practice of making such pay- 9 ments undermines the rule of law and undercuts a 10 central strategic United States goal in Afghanistan: 11 Establishing a credible and transparent Afghan gov- 12 ernment responsive to popular concerns. 13 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS AF- 14 FILIATED WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. 15 (a) PROHIBITION.—Subject to section 5, no depart- 16 ment or agency of the Federal Government or contractor 17 to the Federal Government may make a monetary pay- 18 ment to an employee, officer, elected official, or represent- 19 ative of the government of a foreign country for the pur- 20 poses of bribery, coercion, or any activity that is illegal 21 or undermines the rule of law or corrupts a public officer 22 or the office such officer represents. 23 (b) PROCEDURES.—The President shall establish 24 procedures to carry out and enforce the prohibition under 25 subsection (a). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H324.IH H324 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 324 IH SEC. 4. REPORT ON PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS AFFILI- 1 ATED WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANI- 2 STAN. 3 Subject to section 5, not later than 180 days after 4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 5 Central Intelligence Agency shall submit to Congress a re- 6 port on all monetary payments made by the Central Intel- 7 ligence Agency to employees, officers, elected officials, or 8 representatives of the Government of Afghanistan on or 9 after September 11, 2001. Such report shall include— 10 (1) a description of all payments made to em- 11 ployees, officers, elected officials, or representatives 12 of the Government of Afghanistan on or after Sep- 13 tember 11, 2001, including any receipts provided by 14 such employees, officers, elected officials, or rep- 15 resentatives and, to the extent possible, copies of 16 such receipts; 17 (2) the legal basis for making such payments; 18 (3) the strategic goals supported by such pay- 19 ments; and 20 (4) the effectiveness of such payments in 21 achieving such strategic goals. 22 SEC. 5. NATIONAL SECURITY WAIVER. 23 The President may waive a requirement of section 3 24 or 4 if the President certifies to Congress that fulfilling 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H324.IH H324 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 324 IH such requirement would harm the national security of the 1 United States or members of the Armed Forces. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H324.IH H324 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS