{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-welch-risch-introduce-bill-to-mitigate-foreign-influence-on-u-s-policymaking/", "Cornyn, Welch, Risch Introduce Bill to Mitigate Foreign Influence on U.S. Policymaking", "2024-12-03", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "John Cornyn", "C001056", "www.cornyn.senate.gov", "cornyn", "https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Jim Risch (R-ID) today introduced the Conflict-free Leaving Employment and Activity Restrictions (CLEAR) Path Act, which would mitigate foreign influence on U.S. policymaking by prohibiting former government employees from lobbying on behalf of countries of concern:\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to influencing U.S. policymaking, our adversaries will stop at nothing to get what they want \u2013 including using our own citizens to act on their behalf,\u201d said Sen. Cornyn.\u201cThis commonsense legislation would permanently ban former U.S. government employees from lobbying for countries of concern like Russia and China.\u201d\n\n\u201cPublic trust in our democratic institutions has been eroding,\u201d said Sen. Welch. \u201cIt\u2019s vital we set higher standards against potential conflicts of interest for former government employees, particularly when it involves foreign adversaries that might be working to influence U.S. policy.\u201d\n\n\u201cCompetition with America\u2019s adversaries is hard enough without former senior U.S. officials working on their behalf. Whether it\u2019s Huawei or Nord Stream 2, our adversaries have demonstrated that they will pay top dollar for the sensitive information, access, and connections of senior U.S. officials. This kind of corruption undermines U.S. national security, allows our adversaries to manipulate and obstruct key policies and regulations, and creates bad incentives for senior U.S. officials looking to enter the private sector,\u201d said Sen. Risch.\u201cThis long-overdue legislation will ban former senior State Department officials from working on behalf of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and the Assad regime.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nDespite heightened focus on attempts by foreign actors to manipulate the U.S. political and governing processes in recent years, regulations surrounding the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) haven\u2019t been updated in more than 15 years. To mitigate foreign influence and modernize FARA, the CLEAR Path Act would:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-welch-risch-introduce-bill-to-mitigate-foreign-influence-on-u-s-policymaking/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8915918879210949, "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"}