Cleaning Up Washington’s Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 751 To establish a 5-year ban on individuals appointed to Executive Schedule positions and Members of Congress engaging in lobbying activities at the Federal level. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 15, 2021 Mr. TESTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish a 5-year ban on individuals appointed to Execu- tive Schedule positions and Members of Congress engag- ing in lobbying activities at the Federal level. 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 ‘‘Cleaning Up Washing- 4 ton’s Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 2 •S 751 IS SEC. 2. 5-YEAR BAN ON LOBBYING BY INDIVIDUALS AP- 1 POINTED TO EXECUTIVE SCHEDULE POSI- 2 TIONS AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 3 (a) INDIVIDUALS APPOINTED TO EXECUTIVE SCHED- 4 ULE POSITIONS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(d) of title 18, 6 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(d) RESTRICTIONS ON VERY SENIOR PERSONNEL 8 OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND INDEPENDENT AGEN- 9 CIES.— 10 ‘‘(1) VICE PRESIDENT.— 11 ‘‘(A) RESTRICTIONS.—In addition to the 12 restrictions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), 13 any person who serves in the position of Vice 14 President of the United States and who, within 15 2 years after the termination of that person’s 16 service in that position, knowingly makes, with 17 the intent to influence, any communication to 18 or appearance before any person described in 19 subparagraph (B), on behalf of any other per- 20 son (except the United States), in connection 21 with any matter on which such person seeks of- 22 ficial action by any officer or employee of the 23 executive branch of the United States, shall be 24 punished as provided in section 216 of this title. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 3 •S 751 IS ‘‘(B) PERSONS WHO MAY NOT BE CON- 1 TACTED.—A person described in this subpara- 2 graph is— 3 ‘‘(i) any officer or employee of any de- 4 partment or agency in which the Vice 5 President served within a period of 1 year 6 before the Vice President’s service or em- 7 ployment with the United States Govern- 8 ment terminated; and 9 ‘‘(ii) any person appointed to a posi- 10 tion in the executive branch which is listed 11 in section 5312, 5313, 5314, 5315, or 12 5316 of title 5. 13 ‘‘(2) FIVE-YEAR RESTRICTION ON INDIVIDUALS 14 IN EXECUTIVE SCHEDULE AND EQUIVALENT POSI- 15 TIONS.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 17 subparagraphs (B) and (C), and in addition to 18 the restrictions set forth in subsections (a) and 19 (b), any individual employed in a position in the 20 executive branch for which the rate of pay is 21 the rate of pay payable for any level of the Ex- 22 ecutive Schedule under subchapter II of chapter 23 53 of title 5 who, within 5 years after the ter- 24 mination of his or her service or employment in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 4 •S 751 IS such position, knowingly makes, with the intent 1 to influence, any communication to or appear- 2 ance before any officer or employee of any de- 3 partment or agency in the executive branch, on 4 behalf of any other person (except the United 5 States), in connection with any matter on which 6 such person seeks official action by any officer 7 or employee of such department or agency, shall 8 be punished as provided in section 216 of this 9 title. 10 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOY- 11 EES.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a 12 special Government employee who serves less 13 than 60 days in the 1-year period before his or 14 her service or employment as such employee 15 terminates. 16 ‘‘(C) WAIVER.— 17 ‘‘(i) AUTHORITY.—Except as provided 18 in clause (ii), at the request of a depart- 19 ment or agency, the Director of the Office 20 of Government Ethics may waive the re- 21 strictions under subparagraph (A) with re- 22 spect to a position, or a category of posi- 23 tions, if the Director determines that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 5 •S 751 IS ‘‘(I) the imposition of the restric- 1 tions with respect to the position, or 2 category of positions, would create an 3 undue hardship on the department or 4 agency in obtaining qualified per- 5 sonnel to fill the position, or category 6 of positions; and 7 ‘‘(II) granting the waiver would 8 not create the potential for use of 9 undue influence or unfair advantage. 10 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUDED POSITIONS.—The Di- 11 rector of the Office of Government Ethics 12 may not waive the restrictions under sub- 13 paragraph (A) with respect to— 14 ‘‘(I) a position in the executive 15 branch (including any independent 16 agency) for which the rate of pay is 17 the rate of pay payable for level I of 18 the Executive Schedule; or 19 ‘‘(II) a position in the Executive 20 Office of the President for which the 21 rate of pay is the rate of pay for level 22 II of the Executive Schedule.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 6 •S 751 IS (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND- 1 MENTS.—Section 207 of title 18, United States 2 Code, is amended— 3 (A) in subsection (c)(2)— 4 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 5 (I) by striking clauses (i) and 6 (iii); 7 (II) by redesignating clauses (ii), 8 (iv), and (v) as clauses (i), (ii), and 9 (iii), respectively; and 10 (III) in clause (i), as so redesig- 11 nated— 12 (aa) by striking ‘‘which is 13 not referred to in clause (i)’’ the 14 first place it appears and insert- 15 ing ‘‘for which the rate of pay is 16 not specified in or fixed accord- 17 ing to subchapter II of chapter 18 53 of title 5’’; and 19 (bb) by striking ‘‘, or, for a 20 period of 2 years’’ and all that 21 follows through the end of clause 22 (i) and inserting a comma; and 23 (ii) in subparagraph (C), in the mat- 24 ter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘clause 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 7 •S 751 IS (ii) or (iv)’’ and inserting ‘‘clause (i) or 1 (ii)’’; and 2 (B) in subsection (h)(2), by striking the 3 second sentence. 4 (b) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—Section 207(e)(1) of 5 title 18, United States Code, is amended— 6 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘2 years’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘5 years’’; and 8 (2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ‘‘Any 9 person who is a Member of the House of Represent- 10 atives or an elected officer of the House of Rep- 11 resentatives and who, within 1 year after that per- 12 son leaves office,’’ and inserting ‘‘Any person who is 13 a Member of the House of Representatives and who, 14 within 5 years after that person leaves office, or any 15 person who is an elected officer of the House of Rep- 16 resentatives and who, within 1 year after that per- 17 son leaves office,’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751