Risch, Cornyn, Welch Introduce Bill to Mitigate Foreign Influence on U.S. Policymaking

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today introduced the Conflict-free Leaving Employment and Activity Restrictions (CLEAR) Path Act, which would mitigate foreign influence on U.S. policymaking by prohibiting former government employees from lobbying on behalf of countries of concern:

“Competition with America’s adversaries is hard enough without former senior U.S. officials working on their behalf. Whether it’s Huawei or Nord Stream 2, our adversaries have demonstrated that they will pay top dollar for the sensitive information, access, and connections of senior U.S. officials. This kind of corruption undermines U.S. national security, allows our adversaries to manipulate and obstruct key policies and regulations, and creates bad incentives for senior U.S. officials looking to enter the private sector,” said Risch. “This long-overdue legislation will ban former senior State Department officials from working on behalf of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and the Assad regime.”

“When it comes to influencing U.S. policymaking, our adversaries will stop at nothing to get what they want – including using our own citizens to act on their behalf,” said Cornyn. “This commonsense legislation would permanently ban former U.S. government employees from lobbying for countries of concern like Russia and China.”

“Public trust in our democratic institutions has been eroding,” said Welch. “It’s vital we set higher standards against potential conflicts of interest for former government employees, particularly when it involves foreign adversaries that might be working to influence U.S. policy.”

Background:

Despite heightened focus on attempts by foreign actors to manipulate the U.S. political and governing processes in recent years, regulations surrounding the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) haven’t been updated in more than 15 years. To mitigate foreign influence and modernize FARA, the CLEAR Path Act would:

• Permanently ban agency heads, deputies, and Senate-confirmed employees from lobbying the executive and legislative branches on behalf of countries of concern, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Cuba;
• Enact a two-year cooling off period for agency heads, deputies, and Senate-confirmed employees before they can lobby the executive and legislative branches on behalf of all other countries; and
• Include a mechanism to add or remove countries of concern via a Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Judiciary Committee joint resolution and with the concurrence of the U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Attorney General.

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