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This bill — the Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act of 2019 — would amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in an effort to improve compliance with and enforcement of its requirements. To this end, this bill would grant the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) new investigative power in the form of Civil Investigative Demand authority to probe possible violations by those who should register as foreign agents; increase criminal and civil penalties for violating FARA; and charge the Government Accountability Office (GAO) with studying whether, and to what extent, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) exemption to FARA registration is being abused.

Specifically, this bill would make three key amendments to FARA:

Granting the Attorney General the power to issue civil investigative demands (CIDs) to compel production of information, such as documentary material or oral testimony, needed to assess whether certain activities undertaken by individuals or entities require FARA registration under existing statute.
Increasing criminal fines for certain willful FARA violations from $10,000 to $200,000; increasing fines for deficient registration statements or unlawful contingent fee arrangements from $5,000 to $15,000; and implementing new fines, ranging from $1,000 to $200,000, for failure to file timely or complete registration statements, failure to file timely or complete supplemental disclosures, or failure to remedy deficient registration statements after notice.
Empowering the DOJ to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for improving compliance with and enforcement of FARA, which will be subject to GAO review and analysis. The GAO is also tasked with auditing current use of the LDA exemption to FARA registration to determine whether the exemption is operating as intended or creating opportunities for misuse.

This bill would also require the DOJ to develop and implement a comprehensive enforcement strategy for FARA and require the GAO to produce a report on the effectiveness of this bill’s amendments to FARA.

","official_title":"A bill to amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to provide the Attorney General with greater authority to promote enforcement and disclosure requirements for agents of foreign principals, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act of 2019","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Lobbyists; lobbyists for foreign countries; foreign countries; the DOJ; GAO; the US Attorney General; FARA; and FARA violators.","argument_for":"A perceived lack of consequences has led to little FARA compliance by lobbyists, who influence U.S. politics without disclosing their foreign relationships. 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Should Enforcement & Punishment of Foreign Agents Registration Act Violations Be Increased?