Show Me the Money: Congress Pushes Think Tanks To Disclose Foreign Money
Congress is trying to pull back the curtain on foreign influence in the nation’s capital by forcing think tanks to disclose any funding they receive from foreign nations.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R., Mich.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) are spearheading the Think Tank Transparency Act of 2022, which would force nonprofit groups that seek to influence public policy and Congress to publicly report all foreign funding, as well as any contracts or agreements they strike with foreign principals.
The bill comes just months after the Brookings Institution, one of Washington, D.C.’s oldest and most influential think tanks, found itself embroiled in an FBI probe into whether its former president, John Allen, lobbied for Qatar, the oil-rich nation that is known as a hub for terrorism financing. Brookings took more than $30 million in donations from Qatar over a 14-year period and even established a satellite campus in Doha. The arrangement between Qatar and Brookings is not unique—think tanks on both sides of the political spectrum routinely accept foreign cash from countries like China, Russia, and other regimes hoping to influence American policy makers.
“Think tanks have an enormous influence on U.S. public policy, and many receive millions from foreign entities who have a significant interest in how our policy is shaped,” Bergman said in a statement. “Congress and the American people deserve to know what these think tanks are up to, and who they’re working for.”
“The assumption that they are non-political, academic entities advocating for policies in our national interest is not always accurate, given the increasing amount of funding they receive from foreign governments, often earmarked for specific projects,” Bergman said.
The legislation, which is likely to garner bipartisan support in light of growing concerns about foreign funding of American policy shops, would force think tanks to publicly disclose all foreign principals who subsidize their work. Within 90 days of inking any contract, think tanks would have to disclose this funding to the federal government, which would make the filings publicly available online.
The legislation is meant to address loopholes in the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or
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