S 3050

Introduced

PAID OFF Act of 2025

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, to modify requirements under that Act relating to exemptions, and for other purposes.

Introduced Oct 23, 2025

Latest action (Jun 17, 2026) Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.

Referred to

Foreign Relations Committee

Policy area

International Affairs

Issues

Foreign Policy

Summary

Amends the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to eliminate exemptions for agents of foreign principals that are corporate or government entities owned or controlled by designated countries of concern.
Designates countries of concern as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba based on the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956.
Creates a process allowing the Secretary of State to propose adding or deleting countries from the "country of concern" list in consultation with the Attorney General.
Requires Congressional approval via joint resolution for any modification to the "country of concern" list, with referral to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Judiciary Committee.
Establishes specific requirements for joint resolutions approving country modifications, including required statutory language and formatting specifications.
Sunsets all amendments on the date that is five years after the bill's enactment.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)

8 cosponsors

Actions (3)

Jun 17, 2026 Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably. · senate
Oct 23, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. · senate
Oct 23, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Business meeting to consider S.4726, to promote efforts to bring about stability and security in Sudan, S.3984, to authorize a 2-year extension of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, S.4570, to incentivize, streamline, and sustain United States foreign government partner procurement of United States-origin cyber and digital technologies, S.4259, to promote the development, production, and deployment of secure and resilient Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to enhance United States national security and support the defense and resilience of Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, S.3018, to permit visiting dignitaries and service members from Taiwan to display the flag of the Republic of China, S.2578, to support United States investment opportunities, to strengthen bilateral collaboration in addressing criminal elements operating in the Brazilian Amazon, S.2252, to require United States foreign assistance commodities to be made available for their intended purposes before they expire, S.3050, to amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, to modify requirements under that Act relating to exemptions, S.4610, to promote the development and use of geothermal resources in the Pacific, S.3172, to repeal certain Acts that impose sanctions upon Syria, S.3676, to require a sports diplomacy strategy to strategically leverage the major sporting events being hosted in the United States during the next decade to enhance United States soft power, diplomatic relationships, and global leadership, S.4708, to improve the security of the Arctic, S.4009, to provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to forced organ harvesting within the People's Republic of China, S.1542, to support the human rights of Uyghurs and members of other minority groups residing primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, to safeguard their distinct identity, S.3900, to promote human rights, internet freedom and accountability in Iran, S.4709, to amend the Arms Export Control Act to modify a limitation relating to exports and transfers of defense articles and services under the AUKUS partnership, S.4392, to promote United States and allied energy and mineral security, S.4600, to require a South China Sea diplomatic engagement strategy, S.4577, to reassess the United States-Tanzania bilateral relationship, S.4443, to increase cooperation with countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region in order to strengthen energy security and defense capabilities, S.4723, to establish a program to provide assistance to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean to prosecute Chinese organized criminal groups and Chinese government-linked organizations engaged in criminal activity, S.4680, to authorize the Secretary of State to extend limited consular appointments to eight years, with an additional two-year extension for needs of the Foreign Service, S.4665, to require the Secretary of State to submit a strategy to Congress for countering Iranian and Hezbollah influence operations in Latin America, S.3733, to amend the Passport Act of June 4, 1920, to authorize certain public libraries to collect and retain a fee for the execution of a passport application.Foreign Relations CommitteeJun 17, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

October 23, 2025

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Risch, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Welch, Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Kennedy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, to modify requirements under that Act relating to exemptions, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. TREATMENT OF EXEMPTIONS UNDER THE FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938.

This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Adversary Influence, Disinformation, and Obscured Foreign Financing Act of 2025” or the “PAID OFF Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF EXEMPTIONS UNDER THE FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938.

Section 3 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 613), is amended—

(1) in the matter preceding subsection (a), by inserting “, except as provided in subsection (i)” after “principals”; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

“(i) Limitations.—The exemptions under subsections (d)(1),

(d)(2), and (h) shall not apply to any agent of a foreign principal that is a corporate or government entity that is owned or controlled by 1 or more of the identified countries listed in clauses (i) through (v) of section 1(m)(1)(A) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(m)(1)(A)).”.

SEC. 3. MECHANISM TO AMEND DEFINITION OF “COUNTRY OF CONCERN”.

Section 1(m) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(m)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs

(7) and (8), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:

“(6) Modification to definition of ‘country of concern’.—

“(A) In general.—The Secretary of State may, in consultation with the Attorney General, propose the addition or deletion of countries described in paragraph (1)(A).

“(B) Submission.—Any proposal described in subparagraph (A) shall—

“(i) be submitted to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives; and

“(ii) become effective upon enactment of a joint resolution of approval as described in subparagraph (C).

“(C) Joint resolution of approval.—

“(i) In general.—For purposes of subparagraph (B)(ii), the term ‘joint resolution of approval’ means only a joint resolution—

“(I) that does not have a preamble;

“(II) that includes in the matter after the resolving clause the following: ‘That Congress approves the modification of the definition of “country of concern” under section 1(m) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as submitted by the Secretary of State on ____; and section 1(m)(1)(A) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(m)(1)(A)) is amended by ______.’, the blank spaces being appropriately filled in with the appropriate date and the amendatory language required to modify the list of countries in paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection by adding or deleting 1 or more countries; and

“(III) the title of which is as follows: ‘Joint resolution approving modifications to definition of “country of concern” under section 1(m) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956.’.

“(ii) Referral.—

“(I) Senate.—A resolution described in clause (i) that is introduced in the Senate shall be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

“(II) House of representatives.—A resolution described in clause (i) that is introduced in the House of Representatives shall be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.”.

SEC. 4. SUNSET.

The amendments made by this Act shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. <all>

Comments

Loading comments…

Summary

Sponsor (1)

Money behind the sponsor

Actions (3)

Related bills (2)

Similar bills (6)

Committee action

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Full text

Comments

Comments