[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3306-S3307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



       Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, for nearly 2 years Special Counsel 
Mueller's investigation captivated Washington. Most of the media 
reporting focused on speculation and false allegations of a criminal 
conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. This reporting 
was fueled by critics eager to all but guarantee the President's guilt. 
After a very exhaustive investigation--and, of course, millions and 
millions of taxpayer dollars being spent by the Mueller investigation--
many of those same critics still can't accept that Mueller and his 
investigative team of Democratic donors found no collusion or crime.
  The continuing political noise over the last 2 years, however, risks 
drowning out critical siren warnings of another real threat--self-
interested and surreptitious foreign influence in our political 
discourse. Mueller's team indicted dozens of Russians for a scheme to 
sow discord in American politics through our social media and the 
release of hacked emails. However, not enough attention has been paid 
to foreign interests secretly enlisting American cutouts to directly 
influence our laws, our public policies, and, most importantly, public 
opinion to destroy our social cohesion.
  This is a very serious problem that should send shivers down the 
spine of anyone in government who meets with lobbyists. If lobbyists or 
public relations firms are pushing policy preferences at the behest of 
foreign powers and foreign interests, we ought to know about it.
  This week I introduced legislation to strengthen and also fine-tune 
enforcement authorities to better expose clandestine foreign influence 
campaigns. My bipartisan bill, the Foreign Agents Disclosure and 
Registration Enhancement Act, will encourage greater compliance with a 
very often ignored requirement for lobbyists working on behalf of 
foreign entities to tell the U.S. people who they are working for. It 
accomplishes this by creating critical updates to one of our Nation's 
oldest lobbying disclosure laws.
  Way back in 1938, Congress first passed a bill to accomplish a way to 
expose this foreign influence in America, particularly within our 
government. That bill passed in 1938 is called the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act. The bill was meant to unmask Nazi propaganda and 
identify foreign attempts to influence Congress and the American 
public. Until recently, however, this Foreign Agents Registration Act 
has been seldom used.
  Now--get this--only 15 violators of this act have been criminally 
prosecuted since 1966, and 1966 was the date when this law was last 
updated. Of course, now I am trying to update it again. About half of 
these prosecutions, of the 15, stem from the work of Special Counsel 
Mueller's investigation, though that is not due to the lack of foreign 
influence efforts to affect our Federal decision making.
  As part of my oversight efforts, I first raised concerns about the 
shoddy Foreign Agent Registration Act enforcement in 2015. Now, I did 
this before Donald Trump launched his Presidential campaign. I did it 
when a former Clinton White House staffer and a lawyer for a Georgian 
political party failed to register as foreign agents.
  I also raised concerns about work for Ukranians by Paul Manafort and 
the Podesta Group, and about reports that the Democratic National 
Committee worked with Ukraine to undermine the Trump campaign. I raised 
concerns when the firm behind the discredited Steele dossier failed to 
register for its lobbying work to repeal U.S. sanctions against Russia.
  Now, as it turned out, that is the same lobbying effort that was 
behind the bait and switch at the Trump Tower in June of 2016. I don't 
have to go into details about that Trump Tower meeting. That is a very 
famous and well documented meeting.
  I even subpoenaed Manafort to testify at the Judiciary Committee 
hearing on lax Foreign Agents Registration Act enforcement, and I 
praised Mueller for dusting off the law that had been ignored by 
lobbyists and prosecutors for so long because they really didn't want 
the American public to know that they were working for a foreign 
country.

  Now, that may sound like that is something illegal. What is illegal 
is that you don't tell the American people whom you are working for. It 
is not, as far as I know, illegal to work for the interests of another 
country, as they might have some legitimate interest in our 
policymaking, but the point is that the public ought to know whom they 
are working for.
  Now, I talked about subpoenaing Manafort, and in the end Manafort, 
his colleague Rick Gates, and former Obama White House Counsel Greg 
Craig were among those indicted for violating this Foreign Agents 
Registration Act.
  My Foreign Agents Registration Act oversight activities have been 
done without regard to power, party, or privilege. I happen to have a 
reputation as an equal-opportunity overseer to see that the laws are 
faithfully enforced, and I believe that this very act of registration 
of foreign agents ought to be better enforced and enforced equally.

[[Page S3307]]

  Now, all of this talk about this law may have started as a creative 
tactic by an aggressive team of investigators to pressure Manafort into 
spilling nonexistent details on the Trump campaign, but Mueller's probe 
had the positive effect of shining a light on the Justice Department's 
registration unit on the enforcement of this law of 1938, and it also 
has shown light, as well, on a legion of lobbyists who work for foreign 
agents who had flown under the radar for very many years.
  Now, because of all this transparency, the charges spurred a rush on 
K Street. New foreign agent registrations increased by 50 percent from 
2016 to 2017. Now, I can't believe a single one of those people 
registering of that 50 percent increase in registration didn't realize 
this law existed, but they probably thought they could get away with 
something that most people have been getting away with for decades.
  Now, Attorney General Barr also recently pledged to prioritize 
enforcement of that law as he heads up the Justice Department, and, of 
course, we all ought to be pleased to hear that from the Attorney 
General.
  However, even though the 1938 law is finally being taken more 
seriously, that law still lacks key enforcement authorities needed to 
investigate and hold accountable covert conveyors of foreign interests.
  The 1938 law also includes a broad exemption for anyone already 
registered with Congress as a lobbyist. It is time that we ask whether 
this exemption continues to serve the public interest and operates as 
intended.
  Moreover, even those registered under the 1938 law aren't required to 
clearly disclose that they are working on behalf of a foreign 
government or entity if they happen to be meeting with Capitol Hill or 
administration officials. Policymakers need to know when these meetings 
are driven by foreign interests.
  Now, getting back to the legislation I am introducing, this 
bipartisan bill, based on my oversight work, grants Federal 
investigators a lot of new tools, such as civil investigative demand 
authority to help the Justice Department gain access to material needed 
to identify covert foreign influence and improve the act's compliance. 
This bill strengthens the Justice Department's hand in rooting out 
those who attempt to shield their operation from the American people 
and policymakers.
  We have to ensure accountability, and to accomplish that goal, my 
bill provides key controls on who in the Justice Department can use the 
new authority, and it provides due process protection. This authority 
will also sunset after 5 years, requiring the Justice Department to 
demonstrate that the law has been appropriately used if Congress is to 
reauthorize it.
  In addition, the bill requires a review of the new authority by the 
Justice Department's inspector general.
  This bipartisan bill also improves deterrence by strengthening the 
penalties that scofflaws face for violating the law's registration and 
disclosure requirements.
  It also requires foreign agents to immediately disclose their 
clients. That way, policymakers--including those of us in the Senate--
can evaluate their positions in light of those associations.
  Even my own office has, in the past, been targeted by secretive 
lobbying efforts orchestrated by foreign powers, whose policy interests 
were diametrically opposed to those of our great country. I saw through 
the ploy, but anyone in government should have full awareness into who 
they are meeting with and why those meetings are taking place.
  The bill requires the Justice Department to craft a comprehensive 
enforcement strategy for the law to better coordinate agency efforts, 
to analyze the law's current exemptions and fee structure, and to 
promote transparency by ensuring the ongoing proactive release of the 
law's advisory opinions.
  Finally, it establishes a review of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 
exemptions to determine whether and to what extent it has been abused 
to conceal foreign influence.
  Legitimate interests engaging in legitimate conduct shouldn't bear an 
unnecessary burden. Hopefully, in the way we have written this law, 
that unnecessary burden is avoided. But, at the same time, we must also 
be certain that this exemption hasn't created an opportunity for abuse 
by those who wish to operate in the dark. With this increase in 
registration under the 1938 law, we find that a lot of people must have 
been operating in the dark.
  This bill is a product of my years-long oversight into the 1938 law 
as well as bipartisan cooperation. It reflects a consensus that the 
curtain over foreign influence has to be peeled back.
  This year, compared to the bill I introduced last year--and we had 
competition with other bills last year--we have been able to find a 
bipartisan effort that combines what other Members' thinking is on the 
subject. So I am happy to announce that Senators Feinstein, Cornyn, 
Shaheen, Rubio, and Young are cosponsors at the time of this 
introduction, and I hope that other Members will join us as well.
  The Mueller investigation might not have brought the legal charges 
that many of the President's critics were hoping for. They were hoping 
for an excuse to get President Trump out of office. But at least that 
investigation by Mueller was a powerful indictment of our government's 
lax enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also of our 
willingness to take the bait of foreign powers seeking to wreak havoc 
on our civic discourse.
  In the wake of the Mueller investigation, it is on us, right here in 
the Congress, to keep our eye on the ball. It is on us to strengthen 
our defenses against hidden foreign influence and preserve the voice of 
the American people. I believe with the introduction of the bipartisan 
Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act that we will 
accomplish these ends.
  Again, I welcome a lot of additional cosponsorship of my colleagues. 
This is definitely a good government piece of legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.