Legislation & policy analysis
Today, New York Representatives Elise Stefanik (R) and Kathleen Rice (D) joined in sponsoring the bipartisan, bicameral legislation to begin protecting U.S. politics from foreign interference. This brings the total number of sponsors of the bill to 22.
“The Republicans and Democrats who continue to work together on constitutional, bipartisan solutions to protect our elections and democracy from foreign attacks should be applauded, and more member of Congress should follow their lead,” said Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee.
The Honest Ads Act is a carefully crafted first step to combat hidden foreign disinformation campaigns in our political system by implementing a disclosure system for paid, online political advertising that is closely modeled on longstanding Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules for paid political advertising on television and radio.
The Honest Ads Act (H.R. 4077) list of 22 current sponsors includes:
| Republicans | Democrats |
| Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) | Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) |
| Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) | Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) |
| Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) | Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) |
| Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) | Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) |
| Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) | Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) |
| Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) | Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) |
| Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) | Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) |
| Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) | Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) |
| Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) | Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) |
| Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) | Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) |
| Rep. David Young (R-IA) | Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) |
In June, more than 100 former members of Congress — all members if Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus — sent a letter to the 115th Congress strongly urging them to co-sponsor the bipartisan, bicameral Honest Ads Act. The legislation has also been endorsed by tech giants Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Twitter.
To learn more about the Honest Ads Act, visit www.issueone.org/honest-ads-act.
Issue: Foreign Interference
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