WASHINGTON—Today, Chairman Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-02) and Ranking Member Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09) marked the fourth annual Counter-Kleptocracy Month. The U.S. Helsinki Commission has marked Counter-Kleptocracy month since June 2021 when the Commission helped to launch the Congressional Caucus against Foreign Corruption and Kleptocracy (Counter-Kleptocracy Caucus). The Caucus is also chaired by Reps. Wilson and Cohen, along with Reps. Maria Salazar (FL-27) and Bill Keating (MA-09).
“Every dictatorship in the world is based on corruption. From Putin’s Russia to the Iranian regime to the Chinese Communist Party, all have in common a governance model where they steal vast sums from their own citizens to pay off their cronies. Further, these regimes weaponize corruption, laundering blood money into our system and those of our allies in order to dismantle democracy from within. We must fortify our systems against this vector of malign influence by establishing common-sense measures to create transparency and expel foreign corruption from the United States,” said Chairman Wilson and Ranking Member Cohen.
In Federalist No. 22, published in 1787, Alexander Hamilton wrote, “One of the weak sides of republics, among their numerous advantages, is that they afford too easy an inlet to foreign corruption.”
Every Counter-Kleptocracy Month, Members have introduced legislation to protect the United States against the threat of foreign corruption and kleptocracy. This year, the House leadership of the Commission plans to introduce several bills addressing the topics of interdicting money laundering and establishing financial transparency, preventing malign influence through post-employment payoffs, and improving authorities to enable the United States to better fight foreign corrupt officials.
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