{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://nunn.house.gov/2023/12/12/nunn-bill-combatting-china-protecting-iowa-small-businesses-passes-house/", "Nunn Bill Combatting China, Protecting Iowa Small Businesses Passes House", "2023-12-12", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Zachary Nunn", "N000193", "nunn.house.gov", "nunn", "https://nunn.house.gov/category/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 The U.S. House of Representatives today passed Representative Zach Nunn\u2019s (IA-03) bipartisan bill by a 420 to 1 vote to crack down on Chinese Communist Party shell companies in the United States and support real American small businesses. The Protect Small Businesses and Prevent Illicit Financial Activity Act will close loopholes allowing China\u2019s shell companies to conceal their ownership while easing the burden of regulations on real American businesses.\n\n\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party has more than 40,000 shell companies currently operating in the United States that jeopardize our national security, steal our intellectual property, and undermine our economy,\u201d Rep. Nunn said. \u201cBy passing this legislation, we\u2019re fighting back against the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s aggressive maneuvers to harm our national security while, at the same time, reducing the burden of red tape on Iowa\u2019s small businesses.\u201d\n\nIn 2020, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act to root out these shell companies by establishing new reporting requirements for businesses; however, during implementation by the U.S. Department of Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), several changes were made that deviated significantly from the bill passed by Congress. Most notably, companies were given an option to state that they were \u201cunable to obtain\u201d or \u201cunable to identify\u201d their true ownership. The inclusion of these options undermines the effectiveness of the law by allowing bad actors to obscure the identity of nefarious owners.\n\nRep. Nunn\u2019s bill, the Protect Small Businesses and Prevent Illicit Financial Activity Act, will fix this fatal flaw and make it easier for real American businesses to comply with the law by:\n\nClosing the loophole allowing reporting companies to omit information by selecting \u201cunable to obtain\u201d or \u201cunable to identify\u201d\n\nRequiring new entities to file a report within 90 days of formation or registration\n\nExtending the filing deadline for American businesses by 12 months while the Treasury Department fixes their flawed implementation of this new law to ensure small businesses are not overburdened with unclear and unnecessarily complicated new regulations\n\nThe legislation now awaits consideration in the Senate. Text of the bill\u2014which is co-led by Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Ranking Member Joyce Beatty (OH-03)\u2014is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://nunn.house.gov/2023/12/12/nunn-bill-combatting-china-protecting-iowa-small-businesses-passes-house/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7247459143400192, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}