China Firm Funds US Suits Amid Push to Disclose Foreign Ties

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and two other lawmakers in September introduced legislation (H.R. 5488, S. 2805) that would require disclosure of foreign entities funding lawsuits in US courts. The proposal would ban sovereign wealth funds and foreign governments from engaging in the practice.

“Leaving our courts unprotected from foreign influence—such as from China—poses a major risk to US national security,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in a statement at the time of the bill’s introduction. Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-W.Va.) is also an author of the bill, which is backed by the US Chamber of Commerce and pro-market policy group R Street Institute.