S. 981

119 S981 IS: Foreign Agents Transparency Act
 U.S. Senate
 2025-03-12
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  S. 981  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   March 12, 2025   Mr. Grassley  (for himself,  Mr. Peters ,  Mr. Young , and  Ms. Warren ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Foreign Relations    A BILL
To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to clarify that the obligation of individuals who formerly served as agents of foreign principals to register as foreign agents under the Act is continuing with respect to activities carried out previously on behalf of such foreign principals, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Foreign Agents Transparency Act  .
2.
Clarifying the continuing obligation to register as an agent of a foreign principal
(a)
Obligation
The third sentence of section 2(a) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 612(a) ) is amended by striking  for the period  and inserting  covering the period .
(b)
Effective date
The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any individual who serves as the agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. )—
(1)
during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of this Act;
(2)
on the date of enactment of this Act; or
(3)
after the date of enactment of this Act.
3.
Permitting order requiring compliance to apply after FARA activities have ended
(a)
Continual compliance
Section 8(f) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 618(f) ) is amended—
(1)
by inserting after the first sentence the following:  The Attorney General may make application for an order requiring a person to comply with any appropriate provision of this Act or any regulation thereunder while the person acts as an agent of a foreign principal or at any time thereafter. ; and
(2)
by striking the period at the end and inserting the following:  , including an order requiring a person to comply with section 2 with respect to any period during which the person acts as the agent of a foreign principal notwithstanding that the person does not act as the agent of a foreign principal at the time the court issues the order. .
(b)
Effective date
The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any individual who serves as the agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. )—
(1)
during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of this Act;
(2)
on the date of enactment of this Act; or
(3)
after the date of enactment of this Act.
4.
Annual reports relating to compliance
(a)
Definitions
In this section—
(1)
the term  covered action  means an action taken by the Attorney General against a covered individual to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. ), as amended by sections 2 and 3 of this Act; and
(2)
the term  covered individual  means an individual who served as the agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended ( 22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. ) during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of this Act.
(b)
In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and each year from that date thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, as well as any other Member of Congress upon request of such Member, a written, machine-readable report that describes each covered action taken by the Attorney General.
(c)
Organization
Each report submitted under subsection (b) shall be organized by each covered action taken and shall include, with respect to each covered action—
(1)
the name of each covered individual against whom the covered action was taken;
(2)
a description of the rationale behind taking the covered action; and
(3)
the status of the covered action.