Wisconsin rep. says loopholes that allow foreign billionaires to influence elections have to end

Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said Thursday that loopholes that allow foreign billionaires to influence U.S. elections need to be shut down.

"In particular, we've identified a loophole that allows foreign billionaires to transfer money into United States charities, 501C 3's," Steil said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "Forty percent of those funds can ... under current law, be transferred into a super PAC to run political ads."

Steil has been conducting hearings for the past few months on election integrity regarding suspicious fundraising.

He currently chairs the House Administration Committee, which uncovered a suspicious pattern of donations from individuals with net worths too small to donate what has been credited to them via ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission.

"In other words, a foreign billionaire can transfer an unlimited amount of money into the United States and 40% of that can be used for political purposes," Steil said. "This is a clear loophole that allows foreign money to be impacting U.S. elections."

He added that the House Administration Committee will hold a hearing on this specific issue.

"We're going to dive in our next hearing about what is occurring, what needs to be done to change it and setting up the conversation for the American people," Steil said.