Law Commons^™

Shining The Spotlight Of Pitiless Publicity On Foreign Lobbyists?, Charles Lawson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This note discusses the changes made to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) and evaluates the impact of those changes. FARA's regulatory regime has long been criticized for its loopholes. FARA's historical focus on foreign propagandists has also been condemned as out of step with the modern political environment in the United States, where foreign" lobbyists" are seen as a serious threat to government integrity. In response to such criticisms, the LDA endeavored to reform FARA so as to increase compliance levels among foreign lobbyists seeking to influence the U.S. political process. …