Sen. Bill Hagerty has reintroduced legislation to expand the federal ban on foreign-national political spending to cover ballot measures, voter registration, ballot collection and other get-out-the-vote activities. Election-integrity advocacy groups Americans for Public Trust and the Honest Elections Project back the effort.
In early November 2025, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R‑Tenn.) and several Republican colleagues moved to revive the Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act, following an initial introduction in April 2024. The reintroduced push came the week of Nov. 6, with a fresh Senate rollout and a Nov. 10 statement from co-sponsor Sen. Ted Budd (R‑N.C.). A similar measure advanced in the House last Congress. (nypost.com)
What the bill would do: According to Congress.gov and sponsor statements, the measure would amend federal law to bar foreign-national donations for voter registration activity, ballot collection (often termed ballot harvesting), voter identification efforts, get‑out‑the‑vote (GOTV) work, public communications promoting a political party, and certain election‑administration funding; it would also clarify that indirect or conduit giving is prohibited. (congress.gov)
Who supports it: Advocacy groups Americans for Public Trust (APT) and the Honest Elections Project have endorsed the effort; an April 17, 2024 release from Hagerty’s office listed both among supporters, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis’s office reiterated that backing. Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project argued that “Foreign nationals have no business playing any role in American elections,” in comments reported by the Daily Wire. (hagerty.senate.gov)
Why now: Federal law has long barred foreign‑national contributions “in connection with” elections to political office, but FEC guidance and past advisory opinions have distinguished candidate elections from issue‑only ballot campaigns. That distinction has left room for foreign spending on ballot measures that are not coordinated with candidate campaigns, prompting states to step in. At least nine states, most recently Missouri in July 2025, have enacted bans on foreign funding in ballot‑issue campaigns. (fec.gov)
Follow the money: APT’s October 31, 2025 report estimates that five foreign charities have donated nearly $2 billion to U.S. groups involved in policy advocacy, litigation, research, and lobbying. APT attributes about $530 million to the U.K.-based Quadrature Climate Foundation; $36 million to Denmark’s KR Foundation; $750 million to Switzerland’s Oak Foundation; roughly $20 million to Switzerland’s Laudes Foundation; and $553 million to the U.K.’s Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The report cites, for example, $147 million from Quadrature to the San Francisco‑based ClimateWorks Foundation—including $6 million earmarked for financial‑regulation advocacy on climate risk—and nearly $400,000 from KR Foundation to the Conservation Law Foundation for climate‑accountability litigation. (americansforpublictrust.org)
Wyss and ballot spending: Supporters of Hagerty’s bill often point to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. APT and allied watchdogs say Wyss‑linked Berger Action Fund contributions to the Sixteen Thirty Fund total roughly $280 million, and that Sixteen Thirty has directed about $130 million to ballot‑issue campaigns across two dozen states. Independent reporting has documented substantial but somewhat lower cumulative figures: the Associated Press reported in 2023 that Wyss‑affiliated groups had provided $245 million combined to the Sixteen Thirty Fund and its sister nonprofit since 2016, including about $208 million to Sixteen Thirty. Taken together, the public record shows hundreds of millions of dollars in Wyss‑linked giving, with estimates varying by source and timeframe. (americansforpublictrust.org)
What’s next: A House companion—previously introduced in the 118th Congress by Rep. Bryan Steil as H.R. 8399—laid out the same core prohibitions and definitions, signaling a likely pathway for any new House effort to mirror the Senate bill. Whether the Senate or House acts first this time, the text already on file shows how Congress could close the gap between the longstanding ban on foreign money in candidate elections and the treatment of spending on ballot measures and voter‑mobilization activities. (congress.gov)
