S3610-119

In Committee

No Funding for Foreign Agents Act

119th Congress Introduced Jan 8, 2026

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill would make entities controlled by agents of specified foreign governments ineligible for direct or indirect United States financial assistance. It uses a broad set of definitions to cover contracts, grants, loans, cooperative agreements, and voucher-style payments, while leaving ordinary foreign assistance and funding for entities not under covered foreign control in place.

Who Benefits and How

Federal officials focused on foreign influence and national security gain a tool for blocking U.S. funds from flowing to entities tied to covered foreign governments. Domestic organizations competing for grants, contracts, and other federal assistance could also benefit if foreign-government-linked entities are excluded from the recipient pool.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Entities controlled by agents of covered foreign principals would lose access to a wide range of federal funding streams. Federal agencies, state and local pass-through entities, and nonprofit intermediaries would also face screening and compliance work to determine whether recipients are controlled by covered foreign agents.

Key Provisions

  • Defines covered foreign principals, covered nations, control, and the covered forms of direct and indirect financial assistance
  • Makes foreign-controlled entities ineligible for direct federal awards and voucher-style government-funded payments
  • Reaches entities funded through pass-through arrangements such as nonprofit or nongovernmental intermediaries
  • Preserves foreign assistance and aid to entities that are not controlled by covered foreign principals

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Bars entities controlled by agents of specified foreign principals from receiving direct or indirect United States financial assistance, while preserving foreign assistance and aid to entities that are not so controlled.

Key Policy Areas

Foreign Affairs, National Security, Government Operations

Primary Purpose

Bars entities controlled by agents of specified foreign principals from receiving direct or indirect United States financial assistance, while preserving foreign assistance and aid to entities that are not so controlled.

Policy Domains

Foreign Affairs National Security Government Operations

Funding Ban and Carveouts

Identified Gains
  • National security officials seeking to block foreign-government influence over federally funded entities
  • Domestic recipients competing for federal awards against foreign-government-linked entities
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Domestic recipients competing for federal awards against foreign-government-linked entities:
National security officials seeking to block foreign-government influence over federally funded entities:
Identified Costs
  • Entities controlled by agents of covered foreign principals
  • Federal agencies and pass-through entities that must screen recipients for control relationships
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Entities controlled by agents of covered foreign principals:
Federal agencies and pass-through entities that must screen recipients for control relationships:

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 8, 2026

Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was read twice …

Jan 8, 2026

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Jan 8, 2026

Introduced in Senate

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government Contractors
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+1 positive -1 negative

Entities controlled by agents of covered foreign principals seeking federal awards, Uncontrolled recipients of federal assistance that would otherwise fear exclusion under the Act

Positive-direction: Uncontrolled recipients of federal assistance that would otherwise fear exclusion under the Act

Negative-direction: Entities controlled by agents of covered foreign principals seeking federal awards

Government
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Federal agencies and pass-through entities administering aid, grants, and contracts

Foreign Affairs
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Foreign assistance programs and implementers

3/4
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Foreign Affairs National Security Government Operations
Actor Mappings
"attorney_general"
→ Attorney General
"state_department"
→ Department of State
"federal_government"
→ Government of the United States

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

7 terms
"controlled" §2-controlled

Uses Treasury control regulations and treats majority or dominant-minority voting ownership by agents as control for purposes of the Act.

"covered nation" §2-covered_nation

Means North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen.

"pass-through entity" §2-pass_through_entity

An entity such as a nonprofit or nongovernmental organization that receives direct financial assistance and redistributes it to other service providers.

"covered foreign principal" §2-covered_foreign_principal

Includes the government or political parties of a covered nation, persons or entities in a covered nation, and organizations named in the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987, subject to specified U.S.-person and U.S.-entity carveouts.

"direct financial assistance" §2-direct_financial_assistance

Financial assistance received directly from the U.S. government through contracts, grants, loans, cooperative agreements, or similar agreements.

"indirect financial assistance" §2-indirect_financial_assistance

Government-funded assistance paid to a service provider through vouchers, certificates, or similar beneficiary-directed payment tools.

"agent of a covered foreign principal" §2-agent_of_a_covered_foreign_principal

Includes persons acting under the direction or control of a covered foreign principal, accredited diplomats and officials of covered nations, covered-nation lobbyists, and persons who must register as foreign government agents.

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology