Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Warren Davidson — the GOP lawmaker who took over the seat once held by former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — is sponsoring a bill dubbed the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act of 2026. Davidson is touting his bill, which would repeal the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, as an effort to make life easier for businesses. But according to journalist/author Casey Michel, Davidson's bill, if it became law, would be a victory, not a setback, for "autocrats" and corrupt shell companies.
"In late April, Trump's allies on the House Financial Services Committee pushed through legislation by a one-vote margin to formally repeal the requirement that U.S. shells divulge their true owners," Michel, writing for The New Republic, explains. "Claiming that the transparency requirement — which requires that company managers take approximately five minutes to fill out a form disclosing company ownership — was an onerous burden, the new bill, dubbed the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act and sponsored by Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, will restore America's status as the leading offshore haven."
Michel adds, "Last month, Senate colleagues introduced similar legislation, aiming to attach it to the broader defense bill set to be passed later this year…. The repeal effort 'ignores clear warnings from American national security and law enforcement officials,' as Transparency International's Gary Kalman said — all of which 'risks turning the United States back into a place where criminals and foreign adversaries can more easily fund their networks and hide dirty money in plain sight.'"
The Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act of 2026, according to Michel, would be a "staggering gift to cartels, Chinese money-laundering networks, Iranian proxies, and others who have relied on anonymous U.S. shells — all of whom Republicans supposedly stand against"
"It's not difficult to see where this new momentum for effective repeal is coming from," Michel argues. "(President Donald) Trump, saturated as he is in rampaging anonymity and international financing, has gone as far as he can to flip the U.S. from an opponent of corruption to a confederate of kleptocrats around the world. But he needs his allies in Congress to help him achieve all of his pro-kleptocracy aims — and to help all of their wealthy, oligarchic benefactors continue to benefit from anonymous U.S. shell companies, as well. In the service of aiding those wealthy donors, Republicans pushing for the bill's effective repeal are willing to aid Russian gunrunners, terrorist financiers, transnational criminal syndicates, and others who need all of the anonymity that states like Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, and others perfected."
Michel laments that although Trump "may be the leading wrecking ball destroying America's anti-corruption credentials," he is "hardly alone."
"Thanks to congressional Republicans," Michel warns, "Trump — and corrupt actors around the world, salivating at the chance to turn the U.S. back into their own personal dirty-money laundromat, can finally restore an American kleptocracy in which only oligarchs, grifters, and criminal kingpins benefit, while everyone else pays the price."