[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2135 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2135
To prevent foreign adversaries from influencing elections by
prohibiting foreign nationals from purchasing at any time a broadcast,
cable, or satellite communication that mentions a clearly identified
candidate for Federal office.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 8, 2019
Ms. Slotkin (for herself and Ms. Stefanik) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent foreign adversaries from influencing elections by
prohibiting foreign nationals from purchasing at any time a broadcast,
cable, or satellite communication that mentions a clearly identified
candidate for Federal office.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Adversaries
Internationally from Disbursing Advertising Dollars Act'' or the ``PAID
AD Act''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to protect the integrity of American
democracy by expanding the scope of the prohibition on political
advertising by foreign principals in order to uphold the well-
established standard of the United States Supreme Court that foreign
nationals may lawfully be excluded from participating in certain
electoral activities.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the growing threat of malicious interference in our
elections by foreign actors requires the Congress and the
Federal Election Commission to take meaningful action to ensure
that laws and regulations protect against influence by foreign
nationals in activity fundamental to our democracy;
(2) the Supreme Court has long held that there is a
compelling national interest in preventing foreign influence in
the United States political process and that foreign citizens
lack a ``constitutional right to participate in, and thus may
be excluded from, activities of democratic self-government'';
and
(3) the current prohibition on foreign nationals
contributing to political campaigns and advertisements must be
updated.
SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF LIMITATION ON FOREIGN NATIONALS.
(a) Disbursements Described.--Section 319(a)(1) of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (B); and
(2) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the
following:
``(C) an expenditure;
``(D) an independent expenditure;
``(E) a disbursement for an electioneering
communication (within the meaning of section
304(f)(3));
``(F) a disbursement for a paid internet or paid
digital communication that refers to a clearly
identified candidate for election for Federal office
and is disseminated within 60 days before a general,
special or runoff election for the office sought by the
candidate or 30 days before a primary or preference
election, or a convention or caucus of a political
party that has authority to nominate a candidate for
the office sought by the candidate;
``(G) a disbursement for a broadcast, cable or
satellite communication, or for a paid internet or paid
digital communication, that promotes, supports, attacks
or opposes the election of a clearly identified
candidate for Federal, State, or local office
(regardless of whether the communication contains
express advocacy or the functional equivalent of
express advocacy); or
``(H) a disbursement for a broadcast, cable, or
satellite communication, or for any communication which
is placed or promoted for a fee on an online platform,
that discusses a national legislative issue of public
importance in a year in which a regularly scheduled
general election for Federal office is held, but only
if the disbursement is made by a foreign principal who
is a government of a foreign country or a foreign
political party or an agent of such a foreign principal
under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938.''.
(b) Definition of Online Platform.--Section 319 of such Act (52
U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(c) Online Platform.--As used in this section, the term `online
platform' means any public-facing website, web application, or digital
application (including a social network, ad network, or search engine)
which--
``(1) sells qualified political advertisements; and
``(2) has 50,000,000 or more unique monthly United States
visitors or users for a majority of months during the preceding
12 months.''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply with respect to disbursements made on or after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
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