Foreign Extortion Prevention Technical Corrections Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 4548, the Foreign Extortion Prevention Technical Corrections Act.

Last year, we enacted the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, or FEPA, landmark legislation that would combat kleptocracy and help protect the rule of law.

FEPA was the first expansion of our country's antibribery and anticorruption laws in nearly 50 years. This law provides another useful tool to combat corruption and stop it at its source by making it a crime for any foreign official to solicit or accept a bribe from any American person or American company.

It was already the law that U.S. persons who offer to pay bribes overseas could be prosecuted, but there was no corresponding law prohibiting foreign entities and officials from demanding or accepting bribes.

Foreign corrupt officials too often demand bribes from companies hoping to do business with them. This unethical practice unfairly benefits dishonest companies, granting them a competitive advantage, and placing law-abiding companies and citizens, including American ones, at a disadvantage.

FEPA changed that by stopping corruption at its source. The passage of FEPA was a watershed moment for our democracy, particularly because research shows that the vast majority of bribe-demanding foreign officials never face consequences in their own countries. FEPA makes it much harder for these foreign officials to cultivate a culture where corruption and bribery are the norm.

After FEPA was enacted into law, it became clear that certain technical corrections were necessary to fully effectuate the law. This legislation would make those necessary changes to ensure that our fight to end corruption is well equipped. I was proud to vote for FEPA last year, and I am proud to vote for it again through this bill.

I must observe that consideration of this bill is bittersweet today because the House sponsor of FEPA was our late, beloved colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee, who we lost just this past weekend.

Her impact on this Chamber was immeasurable, and she was the champion of so many issues from criminal justice to voting rights to civil rights and civil liberties and so much more.

She was also passionate about fighting against corruption, both at home and abroad, and passage of today's bill would be a small tribute to the mark that she has left on this country and on all of us.

This legislation simply makes technical corrections to the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, important bipartisan anticorruption legislation, which was enacted last year. This bill has already passed the Senate.

I urge all Members to support the bill and send it to the President's desk, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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