Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today presided at a hearing on Enhancing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. The act requires agents or lobbyists for a “foreign principal” to register with the Department of Justice and provide certain documentary information about their relationships with foreign interests.
In his opening statement, Chairman Cohen said in part:
“At an historical moment when America once again finds itself in a global struggle against anti-democratic adversaries abroad, it is right that the Subcommittee examine one of the tools that Congress intended to protect us from undue foreign influence in our Nation’s policymaking process—the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938.
“Congress passed and President Franklin Roosevelt signed FARA into law in response to concern about Nazi Germany’s efforts to spread propaganda and influence political discourse in the United States in the years leading up to the Second World War. Congress later amended the statute in the 1960’s and the 1990’s to confront new circumstances. Indeed, the last time any component of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing specifically focused on FARA was in 1991.
“Under FARA, an “agent of a foreign principal” that is engaged in certain activities on behalf of such “foreign principal” within the United States—such as political activities, acting as an information service, or representing interests before any U.S. government agency or official—must file a registration statement with the Department of Justice within 10 days of becoming an agent and file supplements detailing their activities with DOJ every 6 months…
“Importantly, FARA is a transparency measure. It does not, and cannot constitutionally, prohibit speech, even by foreign principals. In taking this balanced approach, Congress recognized that in meeting our desire to confront foreign influence in our political process, we should not erode our own constitutional values.
“In keeping with this loyalty to our own values as we seek to enhance FARA, we should keep in mind some potential unintended consequences of stronger enforcement and ask whether a sharper targeting of FARA may be necessary to achieve the Act’s aims without compromising our civil liberties or diverting attention away from FARA’s primary concerns.”
Original source can be found here.
