Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to annually publish a list of entities that hold a license or other authorization granted by the FCC and have ties to specified foreign countries.
With respect to entities holding cable landing licenses (for the placement and operation of submarine communications cables) or other licenses granted via competitive auction, the FCC must publish a list of all such entities (1) in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest, or (2) that have been determined by a national security agency to be subject to the control of a covered entity.
With respect to entities holding all other categories of FCC licenses or other authorizations, the FCC must first issue rules facilitating the collection of information on such licensees’ ownership structure. After that information is obtained, the FCC must add to the published list any such entity in which a covered entity holds a specified voting or equity interest.
Under the bill, a covered entity is defined as an entity organized in China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia; a subsidiary of such an entity; or the government of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 31, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 29, 2025: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Robert Wittman (R-VA) introduced it on January 31, 2025, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 31, 2025, 587 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 499 days ago, on April 29, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers