This bill tightens rules around foreign money in American elections. Currently, U.S. law already prohibits foreign nationals from directly donating to campaigns, but this bill closes loopholes by expanding what counts as banned foreign involvement. It adds new restrictions on foreign donations to voter registration drives, ballot collection efforts, voter ID programs, get-out-the-vote activities, political party communications, and election administration. The bill also prevents people from using intermediaries or "pass-through" donations to get around these rules—if a foreign national gives money to someone else with instructions that it eventually funds these activities, that's now illegal too. Anyone who knowingly helps foreign nationals violate these rules can also be prosecuted.

The bill requires political committees, parties, and groups making independent political expenditures to certify under penalty of perjury that they haven't accepted foreign money for these activities. It also extends the foreign money ban to state and local ballot initiatives, referendums, and recall elections, not just federal races. To prevent overly broad investigations, the bill limits how far the Federal Election Commission can dig when investigating alleged violations—they can only investigate the specific facts needed to determine if a violation actually occurred.

A separate section protects donor privacy by preventing federal agencies from collecting or publicly releasing information about who donates to tax-exempt organizations (like nonprofits and charities). The main exceptions are the IRS, Congress, and the Federal Election Commission when they're acting within their legal authority. Anyone in government who illegally discloses donor information faces serious penalties: up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison, plus automatic dismissal from their job.