House Judiciary Committee Advances FARA Rewrite

On Jan. 17, 2018, the House Judiciary Committee reported out H.R. 4170, the Disclosing Foreign Influence Act. An identical bill has been introduced in the Senate. Both bills would make significant changes to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) including removing the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) exemption. The House bill is sponsored by Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) and was reported out of committee on a party-line vote of 15-6. It is unclear when the bill will be considered on the House floor. 

Please note that this bill, as currently written, applies to foreign companies and, in some cases, the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies. Foreign governments and political parties are already prohibited from utilizing the LDA exemption under FARA.