Nicole Malliotakis: “I thank Chairman Smith for advocating for this bill, working to bring it to the floor, and making sure that we do not…”

“I thank Chairman Smith for advocating for this bill, working to bring it to the floor, and making sure that we do not have foreign election interference. Mr. Speaker, my legislation, H.R. 8314, the No Foreign Election Interference Act, closes a loophole in our tax code that foreign citizens and potentially foreign adversaries have used to influence and derail the will of the United States people. Under current law, foreign nationals are prohibited from donating to political committees, as my colleague on the other side pointed out. However, what my colleague on the other side of the aisle failed to mention is that there are no restrictions on foreign nationals flowing money through tax-exempt organizations and then moving that money into super-PAC issue advocacy organizations that get involved in American elections with the intention to influence our elections. This is a major loophole. Public reporting suggests that foreign nationals who are barred from directly contributing to candidate campaigns by the FEC are exploiting tax-exempt organizations as a pass-through, something that as current law stands is permissible. For example, a Swiss billionaire has used a network of nonprofits to steer tens of millions of dollars to influence our elections and undermine our democracy.…”