S. 259 (119th)Bill Overview

Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

Science, Technology, Communications|AsiaCaribbean area
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 27, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageIntroduced

Held at the desk.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to annually publish a list of entities that hold a license or other authorization granted by the FCC and have ties to specified foreign countries.</p><p>With respect to entities holding cable landing licenses (for the placement and operation of submarine communications cables) or other licenses granted via competitive auction, the FCC must publish a list of all such entities (1) in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest, or (2) that have been determined by a national security agency to be subject to the control of a covered entity.&nbsp;</p><p>With respect to entities holding all other categories of FCC licenses or other&nbsp;authorizations, the FCC must first issue rules facilitating the collection of information on such licensees’ ownership structure. After that information is obtained, the FCC must add to the published list any such entity in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest.&nbsp;</p><p>Under the bill, a <em>covered entity</em> is defined as an entity organized in China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia; a subsidiary of such an entity; or the government of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.</p>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is reproducing that support in the other chamber.

<p><strong>Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to annually publish a list of entities that hold a license or other authorization granted by the FCC and have ties to specified foreign countries.</p><p>With respect to entities holding cable landing licenses (for the placement and operation of submarine communications cables) or other licenses granted via competitive auction, the FCC must publish a list of all such entities (1) in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest, or (2) that have been determined by a national security agency to be subject to the control of a covered entity.&nbsp;</p><p>With respect to entities holding all other categories of FCC licenses or other&nbsp;authorizations, the FCC must first issue rules facilitating the collection of information on such licensees’ ownership structure.

After that information is obtained, the FCC must add to the published list any such entity in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest.&nbsp;</p><p>Under the bill, a <em>covered entity</em> is defined as an entity organized in China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia; a subsidiary of such an entity; or the government of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.</p>

Passage64/100

This bill has already passed one chamber, which is a stronger signal than introduction alone but still leaves another major hurdle ahead.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Still ahead

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood64/100

This bill has already passed one chamber, which is a stronger signal than introduction alone but still leaves another major hurdle ahead.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is reproducing that support in the other chamber.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has already passed one chamber, which is a stronger signal than introduction alone but still leaves another major hurdle ahead.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act.

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
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