Sen. Hagerty rolls out bill to plug loopholes, bar foreigners from funding US elections

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and seven other Republican senators have rolled out legislation intended to prevent foreign donors from funneling cash into projects impacting US elections.

While it is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to federal, state or local campaigns, some have contributed to intermediaries backing specific policy goals and adjacent efforts like get-out-the-vote activity.

Hagerty’s Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act targets those workarounds.

“After years of hysteria over Russiagate and alleged foreign influence in American elections, it turns out Democrats have recently benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in election-related contributions from a shadowy foreign billionaire,” Hagerty told The Post in a statement.

“This type of influence undermines democracy and self-government here in America, and its staggering scope should be alarming,” he continued, adding that his “legislation that will put an end to covert foreign influence on our elections and protect Americans’ voice in electing their leaders.”

Hagerty appeared to be referencing Hansjorg Wyss, a lefty Swiss billionaire whose eponymous Wyss Foundation’s associated Berger Action Fund has pumped millions into the massive liberal dark money Sixteen Thirty Fund — also known as Families Over Billionaires.

Families Over Billionaires used “paid media, rapid response, surrogate operations, and grassroots mobilization” to whip up opposition to key aspects of President Trump’s agenda, such as his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Berger Action Fund has dumped more than $280 million into the Sixteen Thirty Fund, records show.

On Wednesday, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced a lawsuit against Wyss and six groups he’s backed over cash sent to six committees working to gin up support for ballot initiatives.

The bill, which Hagerty introduced last year as well, bars foreign nationals from contributing to efforts related to get-out-the-vote activities, state ballot initiatives, ballot harvesting, and or public communications that elevate a political party.

Under the Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act, foreign nationals would be barred from donating to conduits that then use that money for activities related to American elections.

The measure also features safeguards aimed at stopping federal probes from being overly broad or demanding, including a mechanism that allows for petitions to squash subpoenas on the basis of bias.

“The Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act would safeguard our electoral system from Chinese Communist Party-linked actors and anti-American foreign billionaires trying to game our democratic process.”

House Committee on Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) plans to reintroduce companion legislation in the lower chamber but the timing hasn’t yet been determined, The Post has learned.

“There is no place for foreign influence in American elections,” Steil said in a statement. “By eliminating the potential for foreign nationals to fund elections operations we are one step closer to securing our democratic process.”