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Congressional Record—Senate S3306 S3306 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 11, 2019 perpetuating the opioid epidemic, fuel- RECESS ganda and identify foreign attempts to ing a cycle of violence, and abusing in- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under influence Congress and the American nocent civilians, they are growing rich- the previous order, the Senate stands public. Until recently, however, this er and richer by the minute. in recess until 2:15 p.m. Foreign Agents Registration Act has Targeting these organizations means Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:30 p.m., been seldom used. more than stopping the flow of drugs recessed until 2:15 p.m. and reassem- Now—get this—only 15 violators of into our country; it means ending a bled when called to order by the Pre- this act have been criminally pros- cycle of crime and violence and work- ecuted since 1966, and 1966 was the date siding Officer (Mrs. CAPITO). ing together with Mexico and Central when this law was last updated. Of American countries to help them es- f course, now I am trying to update it cape the savage grip of these criminal EXECUTIVE CALENDAR—Continued again. About half of these prosecu- organizations. tions, of the 15, stem from the work of The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Additionally, we need to strengthen Special Counsel Mueller’s investiga- ator from Iowa. security cooperation with our inter- tion, though that is not due to the lack national partners so that they are able FOREIGN AGENTS DISCLOSURE AND of foreign influence efforts to affect REGISTRATION ENHANCEMENT ACT to more effectively fight side by side our Federal decision making. with us. Mexico and Central and South Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, As part of my oversight efforts, I American nations often lack the abil- for nearly 2 years Special Counsel first raised concerns about the shoddy ity to adequately counter the traf- Mueller’s investigation captivated Foreign Agent Registration Act en- ficking occurring within their borders, Washington. Most of the media report- forcement in 2015. Now, I did this be- and corruption serves as a major road- ing focused on speculation and false al- fore Donald Trump launched his Presi- block in efforts to stop criminal activ- legations of a criminal conspiracy be- dential campaign. I did it when a ity. tween the Trump campaign and the former Clinton White House staffer and There are a number of programs in Kremlin. This reporting was fueled by a lawyer for a Georgian political party place already—many of which began critics eager to all but guarantee the failed to register as foreign agents. through the Merida Initiative—which President’s guilt. After a very exhaus- I also raised concerns about work for have yielded positive results, but we tive investigation—and, of course, mil- Ukranians by Paul Manafort and the need to look at all of these and make lions and millions of taxpayer dollars Podesta Group, and about reports that sure we understand what works and being spent by the Mueller investiga- the Democratic National Committee what does not work so we can justify tion—many of those same critics still worked with Ukraine to undermine the the expenditure of U.S. taxpayer dol- can’t accept that Mueller and his in- Trump campaign. I raised concerns lars in this fight. By strengthening and vestigative team of Democratic donors when the firm behind the discredited expanding these operations, we can found no collusion or crime. Steele dossier failed to register for its help our southern neighbors fight The continuing political noise over lobbying work to repeal U.S. sanctions drugs, crime, and corruption within the last 2 years, however, risks drown- against Russia. their own borders, which would more ing out critical siren warnings of an- Now, as it turned out, that is the effectively reduce the flow of drugs and other real threat—self-interested and same lobbying effort that was behind other illicit goods moving across our surreptitious foreign influence in our the bait and switch at the Trump southern border. political discourse. Mueller’s team in- Tower in June of 2016. I don’t have to Finally, if we want any of these ef- dicted dozens of Russians for a scheme go into details about that Trump forts to be sustainable, we can’t just to sow discord in American politics Tower meeting. That is a very famous focus on law and order; we must look through our social media and the re- and well documented meeting. at ways to invest in economic develop- lease of hacked emails. However, not I even subpoenaed Manafort to tes- ment to help these countries build enough attention has been paid to for- tify at the Judiciary Committee hear- stronger economies. These are beau- eign interests secretly enlisting Amer- ing on lax Foreign Agents Registration tiful, vibrant countries that are also ican cutouts to directly influence our Act enforcement, and I praised Mueller victims of endemic crime in the region. laws, our public policies, and, most im- for dusting off the law that had been Helping them promote economic secu- portantly, public opinion to destroy ignored by lobbyists and prosecutors rity will carry immense benefits for our social cohesion. for so long because they really didn’t the entire region, and it is something This is a very serious problem that want the American public to know that we need to discuss more in the coming should send shivers down the spine of they were working for a foreign coun- months. anyone in government who meets with try. Senator FEINSTEIN and I have worked lobbyists. If lobbyists or public rela- Now, that may sound like that is together in the past on legislation to tions firms are pushing policy pref- something illegal. What is illegal is address the drug epidemic, such as the erences at the behest of foreign powers that you don’t tell the American peo- Substance Abuse Prevention Act, and foreign interests, we ought to ple whom you are working for. It is which is now the law of the land. This know about it. not, as far as I know, illegal to work Congress, we will continue our impor- This week I introduced legislation to for the interests of another country, as tant work together on the Inter- strengthen and also fine-tune enforce- they might have some legitimate inter- national Narcotics Control Caucus. I ment authorities to better expose clan- est in our policymaking, but the point look forward to hearing from our dis- destine foreign influence campaigns. is that the public ought to know whom tinguished witnesses this afternoon My bipartisan bill, the Foreign Agents they are working for. and engaging in a larger discussion— Disclosure and Registration Enhance- Now, I talked about subpoenaing hopefully a nationwide discussion— ment Act, will encourage greater com- Manafort, and in the end Manafort, his about how we can reverse the devasta- pliance with a very often ignored re- colleague Rick Gates, and former tion caused by the opioid crisis and quirement for lobbyists working on be- Obama White House Counsel Greg drug overdoses in America. half of foreign entities to tell the U.S. Craig were among those indicted for I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. people who they are working for. It ac- violating this Foreign Agents Registra- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. complishes this by creating critical up- tion Act. CRUZ). The clerk will call the roll. dates to one of our Nation’s oldest lob- My Foreign Agents Registration Act The bill clerk proceeded to call the bying disclosure laws. oversight activities have been done roll. Way back in 1938, Congress first without regard to power, party, or The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- passed a bill to accomplish a way to ex- privilege. I happen to have a reputation ator from Washington. pose this foreign influence in America, as an equal-opportunity overseer to see Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous con- particularly within our government. that the laws are faithfully enforced, sent that the quorum call be rescinded. That bill passed in 1938 is called the and I believe that this very act of reg- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Foreign Agents Registration Act. The istration of foreign agents ought to be objection, it is so ordered. bill was meant to unmask Nazi propa- better enforced and enforced equally. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:38 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G11JN6.012 S11JNPT1.
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