Sponsors (13)
Official title: Amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to apply the ban on contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals under such Act to foreign-controlled, foreign-influenced, and foreign-owned domestic business entities, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Sheldon Whitehouse · Last progress July 22, 2026
The bill strengthens protections against foreign influence and increases transparency and enforceability in campaign finance, at the cost of new compliance, governance, privacy, and administrative burdens that could chill business political participation and strain enforcement capacity.
Voters (and state and local governments) will face reduced foreign influence in federal and state/local elections because the bill broadens and clarifies bans on contributions and disbursements by foreign-controlled or foreign-influenced entities.
Political committees, donors, and recipients gain clearer, enforceable rules because business entities and PACs must provide certifications (including perjury penalties) and the bill requires annual reporting to the FEC, reducing legal uncertainty and strengthening oversight.
Donors, candidates, and the public get greater transparency because corporate PACs must certify that decisionmakers controlling PAC disbursements are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
Small businesses, financial institutions, and corporate PACs with any minority foreign investors or foreign ties will face new administrative and compliance costs and may be excluded from political activity, potentially reducing their political participation.
Businesses with complex or dispersed ownership (and the voters they represent) risk chilled political speech and temporary exclusion while the FEC or courts interpret new ownership/control thresholds and definitions.
Corporate CEOs and other top officers must file certifications under penalty of perjury within seven days of covered payments, imposing administrative burdens and legal exposure on corporate officers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Expands the ban on foreign campaign spending to cover foreign-owned/controlled businesses, sets ownership/control thresholds, extends bans to ballot measures, and conditions corporate PAC activity on U.S. decisionmaker certifications.
Expands the federal ban on contributions, donations, and certain election-related expenditures by or on behalf of foreign nationals to cover business entities that are foreign-owned, foreign-controlled, or foreign-influenced under detailed ownership and control thresholds. It also clarifies that the foreign-nationals ban applies to state and local ballot initiatives, referenda, and recall campaigns and adds new conditions on corporate political funds (corporate PACs) requiring certifications that those who control PAC decisions are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and that foreign nationals do not participate in decisionmaking. The bill defines additional triggers that make an entity a covered "business entity" for the prohibition (including specific ownership percentage thresholds, aggregate foreign ownership tests, and control over U.S. interests or election-related decisionmaking) and tightens which disbursements and political committee accounts are prohibited from receiving foreign-influenced funds.