Grassley, Peters Introduce Foreign Agents Transparency Act

WASHINGTON– Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced theForeign Agents Transparency Actto ensure unregistered foreign agents are unable to sidestep disclosure requirements by exploiting judicial misinterpretations of theForeign Agents Registration Act(FARA).
“Foreign agents who fail to register their service to a foreign government or enterprise have an ongoing obligation to transparency, even after they’ve left their lobbying or policy-related job. Our bill restores the original intent of FARA by making foreign agents show their work to the American people. Policy makers and the public should know if someone or something is trying to influence policy decisions and public discourse to benefit a foreign interest,”Grassley said.
Additional cosponsors of theForeign Agents Transparency Actinclude Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
On February 15, Grassley sent aletterto the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting information on the Biden-Harris DOJ’s criminal and civil enforcement of FARA. This letter remains unanswered.
Background:
In 2022, a D.C. district judge ruled that a suspected foreign agent could not be held liable for failing to register as a foreign agent because he stopped lobbying on behalf of the Chinese government before the lawsuit was filed. This ruling was upheld in 2024.
Under these opinions, if the Department of Justice sues an unregistered foreign agent to force compliance with FARA, the unregistered agent could simply announce that they are ending the agent relationship and face no penalty. TheForeign Agents Transparency Actwould clarify that individuals who have not registered their work as foreign agents have an ongoing obligation to register, even after ceasing to act on behalf of a foreign principal.
Suspected foreign agents now point to these holdings as reasons not to comply with FARA registration.  If the DOJ suspects an individual is a foreign agent, they can simply end their FARA activities and skirt much needed transparency.
The full text of theForeign Agents Transparency Actcan be foundHERE.
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