Firewall Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4612 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit foreign nationals from making disbursements for communications promoting, supporting, attacking, or opposing the election of a candidate for public office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 4, 2019 Mr. PHILLIPS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit foreign nationals from making disbursements for communications promoting, supporting, attacking, or opposing the election of a candidate for public office, 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 ‘‘Firewall Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4612.IH H4612 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4612 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITING DISBURSEMENTS BY FOREIGN NA- 1 TIONALS FOR CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS 2 INVOLVING CANDIDATES. 3 (a) DISBURSEMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 4 319(a)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 5 (52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)) is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph 7 (B); and 8 (2) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 9 the following: 10 ‘‘(C) an expenditure; 11 ‘‘(D) an independent expenditure; 12 ‘‘(E) a disbursement for an electioneering 13 communication (within the meaning of section 14 304(f)(3)); 15 ‘‘(F) a disbursement for a communication 16 which is placed or promoted for a fee on a 17 website, web application, or digital application 18 that refers to a clearly identified candidate for 19 election for Federal office and is disseminated 20 within 60 days before a general, special or run- 21 off election for the office sought by the can- 22 didate or 30 days before a primary or pref- 23 erence election, or a convention or caucus of a 24 political party that has authority to nominate a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4612.IH H4612 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4612 IH candidate for the office sought by the can- 1 didate; or 2 ‘‘(G) a disbursement for a broadcast, cable 3 or satellite communication, or for a communica- 4 tion which is placed or promoted for a fee on 5 a website, web application, or digital applica- 6 tion, that promotes, supports, attacks or op- 7 poses the election of a clearly identified can- 8 didate for Federal, State, or local office (re- 9 gardless of whether the communication contains 10 express advocacy or the functional equivalent of 11 express advocacy); or’’. 12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 13 this section shall apply with respect to disbursements 14 made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4612.IH H4612 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS