September 16, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Michael Baumgartner’s (WA-05) No Racketeers on Our Shores Act (H.R. 9834) was approved by the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 15 to 8. This clears the bill to be considered by the full House of Representatives. 

“American companies should not be unfairly targeted or subjected to discriminatory treatment by foreign governments, and that is especially important for companies from Washington state like Coupang, Microsoft and Amazon,” said Congressman Baumgartner. “The No Racketeers on Our Shores Act gives our diplomats another targeted tool to hold foreign officials accountable without immediately escalating to the use of tariffs to address trade disputes.”

The legislation responds to a growing pattern uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee: foreign governments using coercive powers to target successful Washington state companies while protecting their favored domestic competitors: 

Background: 

• Microsoft is one of the companies singled out under Europe’s Digital Markets Act.  Its Windows operating system and its LinkedIn service have been designated as one of seven “gate keepers,” placing them under special EU mandates backed by fines up to 10 percent of the company’s worldwide revenues–20 percent for repeat violations. Six of the seven companies initially targeted by the EU for this discriminatory treatment were US firms;   
• Coupang, a Washington state headquartered company, is facing a whole of government assault by the South Korean government. South Korean agencies launched 40 investigations after a data breach that culminated in a $410 million fine, harming American investors and the U.S. business that sell goods through Coupang to the South Korean market. 

What the bill does: 

• Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make foreign government officials who engage in economic discrimination against U.S. persons inadmissible to, and deportable from, the United States;
• Targets discriminatory government conduct, but it does not penalize legitimate, evenhanded regulation; and 
• Creates a targeted diplomatic consequence for individual decisionmakers.