Objections blunt progress for lobbying law overhaul

WASHINGTON» A push to give the Justice Department more enforcement authority over the lucrative and at times shadowy world of foreign lobbying is stalled amid opposition from probusiness groups, nonprofits and privacy advocates.

Organizations that range from the influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have raised objections to legislation that would sharpen the teeth of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law, enacted 80 years ago to expose Nazi propaganda, requires people to disclose when they lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments or political entities.

While there is bipartisan support for cracking down on unregistered foreign agents, several of the changes proposed in congressional bills could backfire by sweeping in a host of unintended targets, according to critics. That pushback has effectively kept the legislation from advancing as lobbying groups press for revisions.

One of the most contentious provisions would eliminate a popular loophole that permits lobbyists representing foreign commercial interests to be exempt from the law, known as FARA. That shift, one business group has warned, could extend the rigorous disclosure requirements to U.S. subsidiaries of global companies, stigmatizing them as foreign agents even though they employ thousands of Americans.

Congressional interest in fortifying the law comes in the aftermath of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and a special counsel investigation that’s drawn greater attention to the inner workings of international influence peddling.

Most recently, Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, admitted in a plea deal that he had failed to register as a foreign agent when he directed a lobbying operation for Ukrainian interests. Prosecutors said he concealed millions of dollars in income for the work from the IRS.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment against a Russian troll farm accused of interfering in the 2016 election through bogus Facebook posts that revealed how foreign parties can weaponize social media to influence public opinion.

Yet criminal cases under FARA have been rare, with fewer than a dozen since 1966 as the Justice Department generally emphasized voluntary compliance over prosecution. Lawmakers supporting the bills say a 2016 inspector general’s report found that the department lacked the tools it needed to properly enforce FARA. A violation of the law is punishable by a fine or up to five years in prison.

But the defense lawyers association and the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civilliberties group, have declared that Fourth Amendment privacy protections would be undermined by a section of the bill that would expand the Justice Department’s power to investigate possible violations of the law.

And an alliance of nongovernmental organizations called InterAction has urged lawmakers to repair vague and outdated provisions in the current law before passing a new one that strengthens the government’s hand. These groups fear that the law, if not repaired, could leave nonprofits open “to possible politicized enforcement actions and attack,” according to an open letter more than 40 members and partners of InterAction wrote earlier this year.

The House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Johnson, RLa., seemed to be on the fast track to passage in the GOPled House after a committee approved it in January by a comfortable margin. Yet eight months later, it hasn’t moved any further.

Johnson described the objections as “overblown” and said he’s hopeful the full House will vote on his bill before the end of the year. The House is in recess and won’t return until after the Nov. 6 elections. “People in Washington are resistant to change,” Johnson said. “The longer we wait to enact these reforms the more critical they become.”

An identical Senate bill, by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, RIowa, is bottled up in the Foreign Relations Committee. Grassley charged last year that there has been “rampant disregard” of the law by foreign agents and “lackluster enforcement by federal authorities.”