Concerns over “foreign influence” in the political process have led to legislative efforts to restrict the political rights of American citizens working for insourcing companies.  OFII works to ensure that U.S. subsidiaries, defined by law as U.S. companies, and their U.S. workers are treated no less favorably under campaign finance rules than other domestic companies.

Senators Schumer (D-NY), McCaskill (D-MO) and Obama (D-IL) introduced the “The Closing the Foreign Lobbying Loophole Act” in June 2008, which would require individuals who lobby for foreign companies – including U.S. subsidiaries of foreign firms - to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). .  Current law provides an exemption from FARA registration for individuals representing commercial interests who register under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).  The purpose of the FARA exemption was to properly differentiate between private and government entities. ...

There have been several efforts over the last 15 years to prohibit U.S. subsidiaries and their American employees from fully participating in the political process.  OFII actively works to defeat such discriminatory initiatives.   In April 2010, Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8) and Senator Chuck Schumer  (D-NY) introduced the DISCLOSE Act in response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which afforded additional political spending rights to corporations.  Concerns over “foreign” influence in the U.S. political process quickly became a high profile...