Foreign Agents Registration Act, and More from CRS
“In the wake of the 2016 election, concerns have been raised with respect to the legal regime governing foreign influence in domestic politics,” a new report from the Congressional Research Service notes. “The central law concerning the activities of the agents of foreign entities acting in the United States is the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”
Significantly, that law does not prohibit “representation of foreign interests or limited distribution of foreign propaganda. Instead, the Act provides only for public disclosure of any such activities. FARA’s legislative history indicates that Congress believed such disclosure would best combat foreign influence by informing the American public of the actions taken and information distributed on behalf of foreign sources.” See The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA): A Legal Overview, December 4, 2017.
Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
“Extraordinary Measures” and the Debt Limit, CRS Insight, December 8, 2017
Efforts to Address Seasonal Agricultural Import Competition in the NAFTA Renegotiation, December 7, 2017
Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress, updated December 5, 2017
The Child and Dependent Care Credit: Impact of Selected Policy Options, December 5, 2017
Public Sector Union Dues: Grappling with Fixed Stars and Stare Decisis (Part I), CRS Legal Sidebar, December 4, 2017
EPA’s Clean Power Plan for Existing Power Plants: Frequently Asked Questions, updated December 4, 2017
Changes to “Too Big To Fail?”: Treasury Recommends Revisions to Dodd-Frank SIFI Designation Process for Non-Banks (Part I), CRS Legal Sidebar, December 1, 2017
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): Background and Issues for Congress, December 1, 2017
Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances, updated December 4, 2017
Haiti’s Political and Economic Conditions: In Brief, December 1, 2017
Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention, updated December 7, 2017
Lebanon, updated December 7, 2017
Oman: Reform, Security, and U.S. Policy, updated December 4, 2017
Natural Disasters of 2017: Congressional Considerations Related to FEMA Assistance, CRS Insight, December 6, 2017
FEMA’s Firefighter Assistance Grants: Reauthorization or Sunset?, CRS Insight, December 5, 2017
What Happens If the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Lapses?, CRS Insight, December 5, 2017
Russian Compliance with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty: Background and Issues for Congress, updated December 6, 2017
Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist and Data Policy Institute lead at the Federation of American Scientists, will be honored for her stewardship of public data by the National Academy of Public Administration, where she has been named a Fellow.
Confirmation that the construction of the security perimeter and associated security infrastructure at RAF Lakenheath are still ongoing once again raises questions about whether U.S. nuclear weapons have already been deployed to the base.
Alaskans are sensibly pulling back from the vogue for bans and returning to a western tradition that has worked for more than half a century – one that welcomes innovation but also oversees it closely.
The strength of our nation’s data policy isn’t just in the rules we write, but in how effectively we translate those rules into a system that prioritizes the public good. Join us in this movement to design and build more resilient national data policies.