Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Iowa) and Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) The bill was submitted The bill would ban U.S. companies that are “significantly” owned by foreign entities from donating or spending money in U.S. elections.
Foreigners Not legally permitted U.S.-registered companies and their finances that are partially owned by foreign entities or investors, including large multinational corporations, are not subject to such restrictions when it comes to spending money on federal, state and local elections.
Raskin said foreign money in elections has the effect of “diminishing the voice of the people and weakening American democracy.”
“Our bill closes a glaring loophole opened by the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, which allows American companies owned primarily by foreign entities to funnel money into our elections,” Raskin said. Introduced Versions of legislation to remove foreign funding from U.S. elections have been introduced in the past four Congresses.
The bill establishes foreign ownership thresholds and would require companies to file a certification with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) within seven days of making a political contribution or expenditure to demonstrate that they comply with the thresholds.
In 2020, the Seattle City Council banned companies with more than 5% foreign ownership from funding city elections. Box Out Major companies include Seattle-based Amazon.
“Foreign funds can flow into our elections through the same dark money channels that enable unlimited corporate spending, and this influx of dark money is a serious vulnerability to our democracy,” Whitehouse said.
“Our bill would put in place commonsense safeguards to prevent hostile foreign interests from using hidden, dark money to distort American elections.”
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Conn.) signed on as original co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill. press release It was issued by the White House office. The House version of the bill attracted 24 co-sponsors. Ruskin’s Office.
More than a dozen governance and campaign finance reform groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Cause and Public Citizen, also support the bill.
Aaron Shelb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, said the bill “will help ensure that hostile foreign powers cannot spend general fund funds to influence our elections by drowning out the voices of American voters.”
“The American people have a right to know who is trying to influence our voice and our vote, and foreign influenced companies should have no role in determining our elections,” Scherb said.
