[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5583]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    CLOSE THE FOREIGN MONEY LOOPHOLE

  (Mr. KILMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, we know from our law enforcement and 
intelligence agencies that there was an effort by Russia to covertly 
influence our elections.
  And we know that, according to Republican Intelligence Committee 
Chairman Richard Burr, Russia is both covertly and overtly trying to 
influence elections right now in France and in Germany.
  What most folks may not know is that right now there is a loophole in 
our campaign finance laws that would allow foreigners to use their 
wealth to influence our elections, possibly including wealthy 
individuals aligned with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and 
corporations controlled by Putin allies.
  This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. There was 
more than $1 billion spent by outside groups in the 2016 election. It 
is virtually impossible to know where all this money is coming from.
  While U.S. laws prohibit foreign money from being used in our 
elections, there is a loophole that could allow this money in. That is 
why I am introducing the Election Protection and Integrity 
Certification Act to close that loophole and keep money from Russia and 
other foreign sources out of our election system.
  Mr. Speaker, our democracy is under attack and Democrats and 
Republicans need to join together to stop Russian influence in our 
elections. We need to close the foreign money loophole.

                          ____________________