[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 458 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 458
Requiring foreign state media outlets with credentialed members in the
House news media galleries to comply with the Foreign Agents
Registration Act by prohibiting the admission into such galleries of
reporters and correspondents who are representatives of such outlets
who are not in compliance with the requirements of such Act, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 31, 2023
Mr. Bergman submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Requiring foreign state media outlets with credentialed members in the
House news media galleries to comply with the Foreign Agents
Registration Act by prohibiting the admission into such galleries of
reporters and correspondents who are representatives of such outlets
who are not in compliance with the requirements of such Act, and for
other purposes.
Whereas freedom of the press is essential for a functioning democracy, which is
why Congress grants unparalleled access on Capitol Hill to journalists
who are credentialed members of the Congressional Media Galleries;
Whereas there is broad bipartisan agreement, however, that media outlets owned
or controlled by foreign state actors cannot be afforded the same
privileges as traditional media;
Whereas, while the extraordinary access inside Capitol Hill granted to
credentialed members of the media helps facilitate accurate reporting to
the American public, it is also the kind of access coveted by foreign
powers seeking sensitive information from inside Congress, and those
with State-sponsored media outlets currently can easily obtain such
access, even if they openly flout United States laws;
Whereas, in order to effectively safeguard the national security interests of
the United States, foreign State-sponsored media outlets must be
required to strictly comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of
1938 (FARA) and other United States laws as a prerequisite for their
journalists to receive credentials in the Congressional Media Galleries;
Whereas several foreign countries with reported histories of spying on
Americans, such as Russia, Qatar, and China, own and control State-
sponsored media outlets whose journalists in recent years have been
credentialed by the House and Senate Media Galleries;
Whereas over the past decade, the People's Republic of China, Russia, and the
State of Qatar have aggressively deployed their espionage forces against
United States Government agencies and government officials, as well as
targeting thousands of United States businesses and Americans perceived
to be opponents or dissidents of their regimes;
Whereas, in January and February 2023, for example, the People's Republic of
China brazenly launched a surveillance balloon over the continental
United States, which was part of a repeated pattern by China, and as a
result of China's long history of targeting Americans, the Department of
Justice has indicted dozens of entities affiliated with the Chinese
Government for cyberattacks and surveillance, and the United States
Government in July 2020 took the extraordinary measure of closing the
Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas, because of espionage operations
being carried out in the Mission;
Whereas, despite China's extensive surveillance operations targeting Americans,
media outlets registered as Chinese agents under FARA had over two dozen
journalists who had received credentials from the Congressional Media
Galleries in the 118th Congress, and another 16 journalists received
credentials in the 118th Congress through media outlets reportedly owned
or controlled by senior members of the Chinese Communist Party,
including two journalists who received credentials through the China
News Service, which is not registered under FARA, but which was
designated in June 2020 by the Department of States as a ``foreign
mission'' because the outlet was ``effectively controlled by the Chinese
Government'';
Whereas the State of Qatar has reportedly engaged in extensive espionage and
surveillance operations to target American political leaders who have
been up for consideration for top Cabinet positions in both the Trump
and Biden administrations, as well as numerous senior Members of
Congress, and in 2018, for example, Qatari agents reportedly helped
generate multiple high-profile media articles based on hacked materials
to target then-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce
because of his committee's support of the Hamas Sanctions Bill, which
was opposed by the State of Qatar;
Whereas the State of Qatar's State-sponsored media company, Al Jazeera,
reportedly also was deployed to carry out surveillance operations
targeting young pro-Israel activists at several nonprofit organizations
based in Washington, DC;
Whereas, despite the State of Qatar's and Al Jazeera's extensive surveillance
operations targeting Americans, at least 136 Al Jazeera journalists
received credentials from the House and Senate Media Galleries in the
118th Congress, dramatically more than the 82 New York Times journalists
who had received such credentials;
Whereas Al Jazeera journalists were afforded the privilege of credentials, even
though the Department of Justice had determined since at least 2018 that
Al Jazeera's parent entity, the Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN), and its
various subsidiaries qualify as foreign agents of Qatar under FARA, and
in a September 14, 2020, letter, the Department of Justice stated,
``AJMN is an agent of the Government of Qatar under FARA'', and also
stated, ``AJMN and its affiliates are controlled and funded by the
Government of Qatar'' and that the ``Government of Qatar has ultimate
authority through its control of AJMN's Board of Directors and AJMN's
budget [and] exercises ultimate control of AJMN.'';
Whereas, in order to preserve the extraordinary access provided to credentialed
journalists in the Congressional Media Galleries, it is imperative to
limit the number of credentials available to reporters affiliated with
any given foreign State-sponsored media outlet;
Whereas journalists with foreign State-sponsored media outlets should only be
eligible to apply for credentials to the Congressional Media Galleries
after they have undergone background checks performed by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and
Whereas this legislation aims to enhance the national security of the United
States by limiting the access of foreign State-sponsored media outlets
to credentials from the House Media Galleries and by requiring the FBI
to perform background checks of journalists with those outlets in order
to be eligible to receive such credentials: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION OF FOREIGN REPORTERS AND
CORRESPONDENTS INTO HOUSE NEWS MEDIA GALLERIES.
Rule VI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by
adding at the end the following new clause:
``4.(a) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 2 or clause
3, a reporter or correspondent who is a representative of a
noncompliant foreign state media outlet shall not be admitted into the
portion of the gallery described in clause 2 or clause 3 (as the case
may be). In this paragraph, a `noncompliant foreign state media outlet'
means a foreign state media outlet which either--
``(1) is not registered as the agent of a foreign principal
under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended
(22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) notwithstanding that the outlet is
designated as a foreign mission by the Secretary of State or is
determined by the Attorney General to be an agent of a foreign
principal for purposes of such Act; or
``(2) is registered as the agent of a foreign principal
under such Act but is not otherwise in compliance with the
applicable requirements of such Act.
``(b) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 2 or clause 3,
not more than 10 reporters or correspondents who are representatives of
the same foreign state media outlet, including representatives of any
outlet which is owned or controlled by the same foreign state media
outlet, may be admitted into the portion of the gallery described in
clause 2 or 3 (as the case may be).
``(c) Under the regulations prescribed under clause 2 or clause 3,
a reporter or correspondent who is a representative of a foreign state
media outlet shall not be admitted into the portion of the gallery
described in clause 2 or 3 (as the case may be) unless the reporter or
correspondent certifies to the Speaker that--
``(1) during the 6-month period which ends on the date the
reporter or correspondent is to be admitted, the reporter or
correspondent has undergone a background check conducted by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation; and
``(2) the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the basis of
the background check, has determined that the admission of the
reporter or correspondent to such portion of the gallery will
not pose a threat to the security of the United States.
``(d) In this clause, the term `foreign state media outlet' means a
media outlet which is owned, funded, or controlled by the government of
a foreign country or instrumentality thereof, a member of the family of
the ruling monarch of a foreign country, or a foreign political
party.''.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.
Not later than 30 days after the date of the adoption of this
resolution, the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of
Representatives, in consultation with the Sergeant at Arms, shall
submit a report to the Speaker on the most effective methods for
implementing clause 4 of rule VI of the Rules of the House of
Representatives, as added by section 1.
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