II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 546 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. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 2 (legislative day, MARCH 1), 2021 Mr. BRAUN (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 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. 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 ‘‘Banning Lobbying And 4 Safeguarding Trust Act’’ or the ‘‘BLAST Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S546.IS S546 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 546 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS 1 OF CONGRESS FROM LOBBYING CONGRESS. 2 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 207(e) of title 18, United 3 States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (1) and 4 inserting the following: 5 ‘‘(1) MEMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF 6 CONGRESS.—Any person who is a Senator, a Mem- 7 ber of the House of Representatives, or an elected 8 officer of the Senate or the House of Representa- 9 tives and who, after that person leaves office, know- 10 ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any com- 11 munication to or appearance before any Member, of- 12 ficer, or employee of either House of Congress or 13 any employee of any other legislative office of Con- 14 gress, on behalf of any other person (except the 15 United States) in connection with any matter on 16 which the former Senator, Member, or elected offi- 17 cial seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee 18 of either House of Congress, in his or her official ca- 19 pacity, shall be punished as provided in section 20 216.’’. 21 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 22 Section 207(e)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is 23 amended— 24 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND 25 STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S546.IS S546 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 546 IS (2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 1 or’’; 2 (3) by striking ‘‘office or’’; and 3 (4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 4 (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 5 section shall apply with respect to an individual who leaves 6 office on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S546.IS S546 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS