Congressional and Executive Foreign Lobbying Ban Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1522 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 MARCH 5, 2019 Mr. GALLAGHER 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional and Ex- 4 ecutive Foreign Lobbying Ban Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FROM ACTING 6 AS AGENTS OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS. 7 (a) FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS; GENERAL OR 8 FLAG OFFICERS OF ARMED FORCES.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1522.IH H1522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1522 IH (1) PROHIBITING REGISTRATION AS AGENT.— 1 The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 2 amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is amended— 3 (A) by redesignating sections 12 through 4 14 as sections 13 through 15; and 5 (B) by inserting after section 11 the fol- 6 lowing new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 12. PROHIBITING REGISTRATION OF CERTAIN INDI- 8 VIDUALS. 9 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—No individual may register 10 under this Act or otherwise serve as the agent of a foreign 11 principal if the individual at any time served as a Member 12 of Congress, as a senior political appointee, or as a general 13 or flag officer of the armed forces. 14 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 15 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Member of Congress’ means a 16 Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resi- 17 dent Commissioner to, the Congress; and 18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘senior political appointee’— 19 ‘‘(A) means— 20 ‘‘(i) any individual occupying a full- 21 time senior position and who is appointed 22 by the President or the Vice President; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1522.IH H1522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1522 IH ‘‘(ii) any noncareer appointee in the 1 Senior Executive Service (or other SES- 2 type system); and 3 ‘‘(iii) any appointee to a position, at 4 or above the level of a noncareer member 5 of the Senior Executive Service, that has 6 been excepted from the competitive service 7 by reason of being of a confidential or pol- 8 icymaking character (schedule C and other 9 positions excepted under comparable cri- 10 teria) in an executive agency; and 11 ‘‘(B) does not include any individual ap- 12 pointed as a member of the Senior Foreign 13 Service or, except for a general or flag officer 14 of the armed forces, solely as a uniformed serv- 15 ice commissioned officer.’’. 16 (2) OTHER REPRESENTATION OF FOREIGN EN- 17 TITIES.—Section 207(f)(1) of title 18, United States 18 Code, is amended by inserting after ‘‘within 1 year’’ 19 the following: ‘‘(or, in the case of a person who is 20 subject to any of such restrictions and who is a 21 Member of Congress, a senior political appointee (as 22 that term is defined in section 12 of the Foreign 23 Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1522.IH H1522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1522 IH U.S.C. 611 et seq.)), or a general or flag officer of 1 the armed forces, at any time)’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any individual 4 whose service as a Member of Congress or as a general 5 or flag officer of the armed forces terminates on or after 6 the date of the enactment of this Act. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1522.IH H1522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS