Foreign Lobbying Overhauls Stall as Manafort Trials Approach

Robert Kelner is quoted in Roll Call regarding legislation to overhaul the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Mr. Kelner says, “They [lawmakers] are all are focused on ‘toughening’ the statute, which is a political approach, but not an approach that will make it more effective. FARA has been in need of a major overhaul for decades. It’s an extremely vague statute, and recent developments have only made it more difficult to advise clients on what exactly triggers registration.” He also adds that terms of the original law are out of date, saying, “These are old-fashioned terms that might have meant something at the time, but I’m not sure they match up with anything going on in the world today.”