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H.R. 8399

BillFederalHouseFloor Consideration
Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act
About This Bill
Introduced
Latest Action · September 12, 2024
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 559.
Congress
118th (2023–2025)
Introduced
May 14, 2024
Cosponsors (2)
0D 2R
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Summary

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This bill amends federal election law to tighten restrictions on foreign nationals' involvement in U.S. elections and to protect the privacy of donors to tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. It expands the existing ban on foreign contributions to explicitly cover funding for voter registration drives, ballot collection, voter identification efforts, get-out-the-vote campaigns, political party communications, and election administration, and it makes it illegal to knowingly help someone violate these rules, including through indirect contributions funneled via intermediaries. The bill also creates new enforcement procedures, allowing accused parties to submit sworn certifications denying wrongdoing and limiting the scope of FEC investigations, while adding new certification requirements to campaign finance reports filed by committees, parties, and other filers. Separately, it bars most federal agencies from collecting or publicly disclosing the identities of donors to tax-exempt 501(c) organizations, with exceptions for the IRS, congressional lobbying disclosure officials, the FEC, and court-ordered disclosures, and makes willful unauthorized disclosure of such donor information a felony punishable by up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison. The changes would take effect immediately upon enactment, applying to donations and reports filed on or after that date. This legislation primarily affects political campaigns, committees, nonprofit organizations, their donors, and federal agencies like the FEC and IRS that handle election and tax-exempt organization oversight.

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