This bill prohibits domestic business entities with significant foreign ownership or influence from contributing to U.S. elections and mandates strict certification requirements to ensure political spending is free from foreign control.
Jamie Raskin
Representative
MD-8
The Get Foreign Money Out of United States Elections Act strengthens existing laws to prevent foreign influence in American elections. It expands the ban on foreign contributions to include domestic companies with significant foreign ownership or control and mandates strict certification requirements for corporate political action committees. These measures ensure that foreign entities cannot influence federal, state, or local elections through direct spending, ballot initiatives, or Super PACs.
New Election Bill Targets Foreign Influence: CEOs Must Certify Political Spending Under Penalty of Perjury
The 'Get Foreign Money Out of United States Elections Act' aims to slam the door on foreign influence in American politics by tightening the rules on which companies can donate to campaigns. Under current law, foreign nationals can't donate to U.S. elections, but this bill goes a step further by looking at the ownership behind domestic businesses. It sets a hard line: if a single foreign national owns just 1% of a company, or if a group of foreign investors owns 5% or more, that business is effectively barred from making political contributions or expenditures. This isn't just about big corporations; it applies to any for-profit entity, from your local LLC to massive tech firms, ensuring that money entering the political system is coming from domestic interests.
The CEO Accountability Check
To make sure these rules aren't just suggestions, the bill introduces a serious 'paper trail' requirement. Every time a business entity makes a political donation or expenditure, the CEO must sign a certification within seven days, under penalty of perjury, stating that the company is not a 'foreign national' as defined by these new ownership thresholds (Section 2). For a busy business owner or a corporate executive, this means a lot more time spent auditing cap tables and beneficial ownership records. If you’re running a startup with a few international venture capital backers, you’ll need to know exactly what percentage they hold before you even think about cutting a check for a local candidate or a national PAC.
Closing the Super PAC and Ballot Initiative Loopholes
The bill also cleans up some of the 'gray areas' where foreign money has historically been able to seep in. It explicitly bans foreign nationals from spending money on state and local ballot initiatives—the kind of votes that decide everything from your local property taxes to state-wide environmental rules. Additionally, it targets donations to Super PACs, ensuring that foreign entities can't funnel unlimited cash into these powerful political machines (Section 3). This levels the playing field for domestic voters who want to ensure their local issues aren't being swayed by outside money that doesn't have to live with the consequences of the vote.
New Rules for the Office PAC
If you work at a company that has its own Political Action Committee (PAC), things are about to get a lot more regulated. The bill requires corporate PACs to certify that every person managing the fund is a U.S. citizen or green card holder. It also mandates that any foreign national on a company’s board of directors must stay completely out of the room—and the vote—when it comes to PAC activities. While this adds a layer of administrative headache for HR and legal departments, the goal is to ensure that even if a company has international ties, its political voice remains strictly American. The challenge will be in the implementation; with a 180-day rollout period, businesses will have to move fast to audit their leadership and ownership structures to stay on the right side of the law.