HUMBLE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 459 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after leaving office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 25, 2021 Ms. CRAIG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, Ethics, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after leaving office, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halt Unchecked Mem- 4 ber Benefits with Lobbying Elimination Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘HUMBLE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 459 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS 1 OF CONGRESS FROM LOBBYING CONGRESS. 2 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, 3 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(1) MEMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF 5 CONGRESS.—Any person who is a Senator, a Mem- 6 ber of the House of Representatives, or an elected 7 officer of the Senate or the House of Representa- 8 tives and who, after that person leaves office, know- 9 ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any com- 10 munication to or appearance before any Member, of- 11 ficer, or employee of either House of Congress or 12 any employee of any other legislative office of the 13 Congress, on behalf of any other person (except the 14 United States) in connection with any matter on 15 which such former Senator, Member, or elected offi- 16 cial seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee 17 of either House of Congress, in his or her official ca- 18 pacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 19 of this title.’’. 20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 207(e)(2) 21 of such title is amended— 22 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND 23 STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 24 (2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 25 or’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 459 IH (3) by striking ‘‘leaves office or employment’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘leaves employment’’; and 2 (4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall apply with respect to an individual who 5 leaves office on or after the date of the enactment of this 6 Act. 7 SEC. 3. PROHIBITING USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL TRAV- 8 EL EXPENSES OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 9 AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES FOR 10 AIRLINE ACCOMMODATIONS OTHER THAN 11 COACH CLASS. 12 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsection 13 (b), no funds appropriated or otherwise made available for 14 the official travel expenses of a Member of Congress or 15 other officer or employee of any office in the legislative 16 branch may be used for airline accommodations which are 17 not coach-class accommodations. 18 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Funds described in subsection (a) 19 may be used for airline accommodations which are not 20 coach-class accommodations for an individual described in 21 subsection (a) if the use of the funds for such accommoda- 22 tions would be permitted under sections 301–10.121 23 through 301–10.125 of title 41 of the Code of Federal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 459 IH Regulations if the individual were an employee of an agen- 1 cy which is subject to chapter 301 of such title. 2 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 3 may be construed to affect any officer or employee of an 4 office of the legislative branch which, as of the date of 5 the enactment of this Act, is subject to chapter 301 of 6 title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 7 (d) DEFINITIONS.— 8 (1) COACH-CLASS ACCOMMODATIONS.—In this 9 Act, the term ‘‘coach-class accommodations’’ means 10 the basic class of accommodation by airlines that is 11 normally the lowest fare offered regardless of airline 12 terminology used, and (as referred to by airlines) 13 may include tourist class or economy class, as well 14 as single class when the airline offers only one class 15 of accommodations to all travelers. 16 (2) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—In this Act, the 17 term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means a Senator or a 18 Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis- 19 sioner to, the Congress. 20 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 21 respect to fiscal year 2022 and each succeeding fiscal year. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 459 IH SEC. 4. BENEFITS AND SERVICES PROVIDED TO FORMER 1 MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 2 TIVES. 3 (a) BENEFITS AND SERVICES DESCRIBED.—The 4 House of Representatives may not make any of the fol- 5 lowing benefits and services available to an individual who 6 becomes a former Member of the House (except to the 7 extent such benefits and services are made available to 8 members of the public): 9 (1) Access to the Hall of the House. 10 (2) Access to athletic facilities and other facili- 11 ties available for the use of Members of the House. 12 (3) Access to the Members’ Dining Room lo- 13 cated in the House of Representatives wing of the 14 United States Capitol. 15 (4) Access to parking spaces. 16 (5) Access to material from the House docu- 17 ment room. 18 (6) Use of the collections in the House Legisla- 19 tive Resource Center without borrowing privileges. 20 (b) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 21 (1) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE ELIMINATION OF 22 BENEFIT OR SERVICE.—The Speaker and the Minor- 23 ity Leader of the House of Representatives may 24 jointly, on a case-by-case basis, grant a waiver of 25 subsection (a) with respect to a former Member of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 459 IH the House and a benefit or service described in such 1 subsection. 2 (2) PUBLICATION IN CONGRESSIONAL 3 RECORD.—If the Speaker and the Minority Leader 4 jointly grant a waiver under paragraph (1) to make 5 a benefit or service available to a former Member, 6 the Speaker and Minority Leader shall, not later 7 than 24 hours after the waiver is granted, caused to 8 have published in the Congressional Record a state- 9 ment identifying the former Member and the benefit 10 or service involved. 11 SEC. 5. PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENT- 12 ATIVES FROM OWNING INDIVIDUAL STOCKS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Rule XXIII of the Rules of the 14 House of Representatives (known as the ‘‘Code of Official 15 Conduct’’) is amended by redesignating clause 22 as 16 clause 23 and inserting after clause 21 the following: 17 ‘‘22. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 18 may not own the common stock of any individual corpora- 19 tion.’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 21 subsection (a) shall take effect immediately before noon 22 on January 3, 2023. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H459.IH H459 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS