[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 213 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7518-S7520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1762

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, much ink has been spilled the past few 
years over the threat of foreign influence in our politics. It is a 
topic I have spoken about many times on this floor. This issue has 
become highly politicized, but it requires bipartisan agreement to 
address.
  It is increasingly clear that our adversaries will stop at nothing to 
influence political discourse in our country. We can all agree that 
there is a real need to improve our Nation's foreign influence laws. 
Fortunately, the Senate has a real opportunity today to finally do 
something about it.
  In 1938, Congress passed the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 
referred to by the acronym ``FARA.'' It did this in 1938 to expose Nazi 
propaganda and identify foreign attempts to influence policymakers and 
the American public. The bill was last updated in 1966. And it now 
requires those who lobby on behalf of foreign governments and interests 
to register their affiliations and activities with the Justice 
Department.
  FARA reflects the fundamental principle that transparency brings 
accountability. Until recently, however, the law had been seldom used, 
and few on K Street paid much attention to the necessity of registering 
under this act if they were lobbying for a foreign country. Of course, 
that was not due to a lack of foreign influence efforts.
  Given FARA's important transparency provisions, its lack of 
enforcement was shocking to me, and that is the problem that these 
several legislators sponsoring this legislation are trying to correct.
  I first raised concerns about lackluster FARA enforcement in April 
2015 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 Ukrainians by Paul Manafort and the 
Podesta Group. 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. I even subpoenaed Manafort to testify at a 
Judiciary Committee hearing on lax FARA enforcement. I praised Mueller 
for dusting off the law that had been ignored for so long.
  I have conducted FARA oversight without regard to power, party, or 
privilege. Americans expect equal application of the law no matter 
which political party someone is affiliated with. I am an equal 
opportunity overseer. FARA ought to be better enforced and equally 
enforced. That is why my office worked thoroughly to expose holes in 
the existing FARA law and found ways to shore it up.
  My bipartisan Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement 
Act is the product of years of oversight and policy work. The bill 
requires the Justice Department, for the first time, to craft a 
comprehensive FARA enforcement strategy and to release advisory 
opinions to promote transparency. It gives FARA investigators new 
tools, including civil investigative demand authority, to help identify 
violations.
  The bill appropriately limits those in the Justice Department who can 
use this authority, and it provides essential due process protections. 
In fact, it is based on identical authorities in the False Claims Act, 
which I sponsored now 35 years ago, which for years has helped to root 
out waste, fraud, and abuse.
  The bill also enhances penalties for FARA violations to deter future 
abuses. It requires foreign agents to immediately disclose their 
clients. That way, policymakers know the true sources and can make the 
most informed decisions.
  Finally, it requires a review of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 
exemption to determine whether it has been abused to conceal foreign 
influence efforts.
  Legitimate interests engaging in legitimate conduct shouldn't bear an 
unnecessary burden. That is why our bill strikes a real and right 
balance. But we must also ensure that FARA's exemptions haven't created 
loopholes for foreign governments to hide their true intentions.
  I am pleased to have support from the chairman and ranking member of 
the Judiciary Committee and the chairman and vice chairman of the 
Intelligence Committee. We have bipartisan support on the Foreign 
Relations Committee, including from Senators Shaheen, Rubio, Murphy, 
and Young, who have all worked to shine light on foreign influence, and 
we now have the signoff of the chairman of that committee, along with 
support from this administration. Groups like the Project on Government 
Oversight and another group that goes by the name of Issue One endorse 
the measure, saying

[[Page S7519]]

it ``directly addresses structural weaknesses of FARA.''
  This is a truly bipartisan bill with common ground where it is 
usually tough to find it. The Senate should send a clear signal today 
that it is serious about shining a light on foreign influence by 
passing this bill.
  Before I make a UC request, I would like to ask one of the leaders in 
this area, Senator Cornyn, to make comments. Then I will make the UC 
request
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, let me start by thanking Chairman Grassley 
for his leadership on this. This has been a bipartisan endeavor, and we 
look forward to working with Senator Menendez, the Senator from New 
Jersey, who says that he supports the spirit of what we are trying to 
do. I will let him speak for himself in describing it, but let me just 
tell you what brings me to this issue.
  It is an experience we had in 2016 when we tried to pass the Justice 
Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. This provided a carve-out in the 
doctrine of sovereign immunity that would allow Americans to sue 
foreign governments for financing terrorist attacks on American soil. 
If that sounds familiar, it is exactly what they believe happened on 9/
11--that a foreign government financed a terrorist attack, taking the 
lives of their loved ones on 9/11.
  When we tried to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, 
I got called by a former colleague here in the Senate who happened to 
be representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They were doing everything 
they could to prevent the passage of the bill. I know they were working 
the phones, trying to get anybody else they could get to object to the 
ultimate unanimous passage of the bill and the overriding of President 
Obama's veto.
  Next, we were met with not only lobbying but veterans who were 
enticed to come to Washington, DC, and stay at a local, pricey hotel to 
try to lobby Congress to make the argument that somehow this was 
hurtful to our veterans who had served in the military. It didn't make 
any sense to me then, and it doesn't make any sense to me now.
  What I am suggesting is that our rivals around the world will use a 
number of creative ways to try to influence us by lobbying. That is why 
the Foreign Agents Registration Act that we are talking about here is 
so important.
  We have even seen a recent report of a Chinese intelligence officer 
trying to influence a Member of the U.S. Congress. Fortunately, 
according to public reports, he got a defensive briefing, as you should 
under those circumstances, and was able to break off that relationship, 
according to published reports.
  We know that the Communist Party of China is investing in things like 
the Confucius Institutes around our institutions of higher learning to 
try to influence the education of our next generation of leaders.
  In other words, the Communist Party of China and other countries will 
stop at nothing to try to influence the policies that come out of this 
body and out of Congress and out of Washington, DC, and bend them in 
their favor.
  So I am an enthusiastic supporter of what the Senator from Iowa is 
trying to do. I look forward to working for maybe even something better 
than what we are proposing right now, and I understand the Senator from 
New Jersey is committed to doing that.
  This is a serious problem, and I will bet you there are a number of 
ways that foreign governments--not just China but other countries 
around the world--try to influence policies here in America, and we 
don't even know they are doing it. Reforming the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act and the Lobbying Disclosure Act is so important to 
make sure that people have to file for full transparency when 
representing a foreign government.
  I appreciate the leadership of my friend, the Senator from Iowa, and 
I look forward to working with our colleagues across the aisle to try 
to get this done.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I have two sentences before I ask 
unanimous consent.
  I think by passing the bill, this will give the Senate an opportunity 
to send a clear signal that it is serious about shining a light on 
foreign influence. Opposing it, in fact, would only help our foreign 
adversaries continue to hide what they are really doing.
  As in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee 
on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 
1762 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further 
ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that 
the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, let me 
thank Senator Grassley for his work on this issue, and I agree with him 
that our current foreign regime is in need of updating. I look forward 
to working with him and Senator Cornyn and with Senators Whitehouse and 
Shaheen, who both came to speak to me about this, as well as with 
Chairman Risch and the cosponsors of this legislation, on engaging in a 
comprehensive effort to do just that.
  FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, is perhaps the most 
critical tool we have for shining a light on foreign influence efforts 
in the United States. Its aim is to ensure that the public knows the 
source of foreign-directed efforts that are intended to influence 
American public opinion, policy, and laws.
  I agree with the Senator that the past few years have demonstrated 
that changes are sorely needed to FARA, but they also demonstrate that 
the statute may need more than a few tweaks.
  And before we have determined exactly what the most needed reforms 
are, it seems shortsighted to provide additional enforcement tools 
before we have figured out what that regime should look like.
  Indeed, adopting ad hoc changes rather than looking at more 
comprehensive reform could actually create more problems down the road. 
Many have noted that FARA's definitions and requirements are broad and 
sow confusion over exactly when and under what circumstances an 
individual must register and report covered activities. There is no 
denying the nature of lobbying, influence efforts, and communication 
methods have dramatically changed since FARA was enacted in 1938 or 
even revised in 1966.
  We live in a dramatically more interconnected and complex world 
today. Foreign influence efforts and disinformation have made their way 
into the top echelons of U.S. Government and this very body. It seems 
only prudent that we step back and examine whether there are blind 
spots in the current FARA regime.
  There are a number of bills pending in both the House and the Senate 
that propose reforms to FARA. Some propose a new unit altogether for 
reviewing and enforcing FARA violations. Others propose additional 
disclosure and registration requirements, significant changes to the 
current FARA exemptions, or more electronic reporting. Yet none of 
those have been given thorough or, indeed, any consideration by the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the committee of jurisdiction.
  There are also a number of concerns about the current FARA regime, as 
well as how it has been applied, that deserve consideration. Some 
nonprofit organizations, for example, have raised serious concerns 
about how FARA could be applied to them and are seeking additional 
changes to this bill to ensure it is not weaponized.
  And as other countries, such as Russia and Hungary, adopt their own 
versions of FARA laws and look to use them to crack down on civil 
society groups and nonprofits, we should be especially concerned about 
the signal that any potential weaponizing of FARA sends.
  The past few years have shown how critical it is that we not adopt a 
patchwork approach but that we get it right.
  The disturbing rise of foreign influence campaigns that use a variety 
of measures to mask who is the ultimate source or beneficiary should 
serve as an alarm bell for all of us. So before this body passes any 
tweaks or new tools and adds to the current patchwork of FARA 
regulations and exemptions, I think we should take a step back and take 
a comprehensive look, and we have not done that.

[[Page S7520]]

  So, respectfully, these changes should not pass this body without 
careful consideration by the committee of jurisdiction. A committee 
markup is the appropriate vehicle for considering such changes to 
assess the ramifications of the changes in this bill and to see if 
other changes are warranted.
  I stand ready and willing to work with Chairman Risch, Senator 
Grassley, and other colleagues to make any needed changes to FARA, but 
because of all of these concerns that I have, I would object today to 
passing this bill out of the Senate without first giving the committee 
the opportunity to consider it and other potential reforms.
  I urge my colleagues to give us the opportunity to work through this 
together and ensure the Foreign Assets Registration Act is fit for the 
21st century. And because of that, I do object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Of course I am disappointed, but I know that Senator 
Menendez is a serious legislator, and if what we have to do to do 
something in this area is work into the next Congress on this issue, I 
look forward to continuing to work for it.
  The reason I am kind of disappointed is the fact that we had two 
Democratic bills and two Republican bills. I introduced my first bill 
in 2017, and it took a lot of work to put together the bill that I 
asked unanimous consent on, to work out the differences with several 
different approaches, and I thought that we had taken everything into 
consideration, particularly bringing together people from the 
Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee that had interest in 
this legislation as well.
  Maybe another reason I am disappointed out of that hard work that so 
many people put into this is the fact that on the part of particularly 
our Democratic colleagues, we have heard so much over the years, 
lecturing about foreign influence, and that is why I thought it would 
be easy to move forward today, and I am sorry it is not, but I look 
forward to January and starting over again and working with Senator 
Menendez to get this job done. Hopefully, it will not take 3 years more 
to get something done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I look forward to working with the Senator 
from New Jersey and the Senator from Iowa. As I said, this is a very 
serious problem for the U.S. Government, and, thus, for the American 
people.
  One of our greatest assets is also one of our greatest 
vulnerabilities. We are an open society. Our adversaries are not, and, 
thus, they use things like the internet for information warfare, 
whereas we see it as a valuable tool to do business, to stay in touch 
with our families, and to communicate with one another. Our adversaries 
are determined, and they are relentless, so I hope that just this 
little colloquy today will help alert more of our colleagues about the 
importance of our working together to address this. I look forward to 
being part of that process.
  Nothing happens very quickly around this place. Sometimes you have to 
work on things for years to get them done.