[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4390 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4390
To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit the President, Vice
President, Members of Congress, and other senior Executive branch
personnel from accepting any foreign emoluments, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 22, 2024
Mr. Blumenthal introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit the President, Vice
President, Members of Congress, and other senior Executive branch
personnel from accepting any foreign emoluments, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``No Foreign Emoluments Without
Congressional Consent Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITING SENIOR FEDERAL OFFICIALS FROM ACCEPTING FOREIGN
PAYMENTS.
(a) In General.--Subchapter IV of chapter 73 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding after section 7342 the following:
``Sec. 7343. Prohibiting senior Federal officials from accepting
foreign payments
``(a) Prohibition.--
``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any senior
Federal official to receive, accept, or retain a foreign
payment, including through a business entity controlled by a
senior Federal official, without first obtaining the consent of
Congress pursuant to this section and section 7344.
``(2) Two-year post employment.--During the 2-year period
beginning on the date that an individual leaves the position of
a senior Federal official, it shall be unlawful for such
individual to receive, accept, or retain a foreign payment,
including through a business entity controlled by a senior
Federal official, without first obtaining the consent of
Congress pursuant to this section and section 7344. Such
individual shall make the requisite disclosures required under
subsection (b) of this section.
``(3) Candidate reports.--An individual other than an
incumbent President or Vice President who becomes a candidate
(as defined in section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act
of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101)) for the office of President or Vice
President shall submit a report to Congress at the end of each
30-day period such individual is such a candidate listing any
foreign payments such individual received during such period.
``(b) Disclosure.--
``(1) Notice.--Any senior Federal official that wishes to
receive, accept, or retain a foreign payment shall submit (in
writing) notice to the Director prior to receiving, accepting,
or retaining any foreign payment. Such request shall include,
at a minimum--
``(A) the name of, and position occupied by, the
senior Federal official;
``(B) details regarding the foreign payment the
senior Federal official wishes to receive, accept, and
retain, including the foreign government that would
provide the foreign payment, the type of payment and
the financial instrument to be used to provide the
payment, the value of the foreign payment, and whether
the foreign payment would be provided through a
business entity, and, if so, the business entity and
the specific transaction through which it would be
provided; and
``(C) a statement confirming that the senior
Federal official has not requested or otherwise
encouraged the tender of the foreign payment.
``(2) Notification to congress.--Not later than 10 days
after receiving notice under paragraph (1), the Director shall
submit such notice to Congress.
``(3) Members of congress.--For purposes of carrying out
this subsection with respect to Members of Congress--
``(A) with respect to any such Member who is a
Senator, the term `the Select Committee on Ethics of
the Senate' shall be substituted for `Director'; and
``(B) with respect to any such Member who is a
Member of the House of Representatives, the term
`Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives'
shall be substituted for `Director'.
``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section and sections 7344
and 7345--
``(1) the term `business entity'--
``(A) means a for-profit corporation, association,
partnership, limited liability company, limited
liability partnership, other legal entity, or sole
proprietorship in which a senior Federal official has
an ownership stake; and
``(B) does not include an entity in which more than
100 people have an ownership stake and the senior
Federal official holds no more than 5 percent in a
beneficial ownership stake and that--
``(i) issues securities registered with the
Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to
section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l);
``(ii) is an investment company registered
pursuant to section 8 of the Investment Company
Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8) that does not
have a stated policy of concentrating the
investments of the investment company in any
industry, business, single country other than
the United States, or bonds of a single State
within the United States; or
``(iii) is a unit investment trust, as
defined in section 4 of the Investment Company
Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-4) that--
``(I) is a regulated investment
company, as defined in section 851 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
``(II) does not have a stated
policy of concentrating the investments
of the investment company in any
industry, business, single country
other than the United States, or bonds
of a single State within the United
States;
``(2) the term `Director' means the Director of the Office
of Government Ethics;
``(3) the term `foreign payment'--
``(A) means any direct or indirect payment in any
form, including any tangible item, arising from
commercial transactions of any kind, including any
payment involving a business entity, whether or not at
fair market value from--
``(i) any foreign government (as that term
is defined in section 7342(a));
``(ii) any corporate enterprise engaged in
commercial endeavors owned 50 percent or more
or controlled by a foreign government; or
``(iii) any member of the family of a
sovereign in a monarchical government;
``(B) does not include any gift or decoration
covered under section 7342; and
``(4) the term `senior Federal official' means--
``(A) the President and the Vice President;
``(B) a Member of Congress (as that term is defined
in section 2106);
``(C) the head of any Executive department;
``(D) any individual employed on the staff of the
President in a position with the title of Assistant to
the President, Deputy Assistant to the President,
Special Assistant to the President, Advisor to the
President, or Counselor to the President; and
``(E) any other senior United States Government
employee designated by the Director.
``Sec. 7344. Congressional review of request to receive, accept, and
retain foreign payment
``(a) In General.--A senior Federal official may not receive,
accept, or retain a foreign payment unless Congress has, prior to such
receipt, acceptance, or retention, consented through enactment of a
concurrent resolution of approval as provided under this section.
``(b) Review.--
``(1) In general.--In this section, the term `concurrent
resolution' means only a concurrent resolution--
``(A) introduced during the period beginning on the
date Congress receives notice from the Director under
section 7343(b)(2) and ending on the date that is 90
days thereafter; and
``(B) consisting only of the following text in the
matter following the resolving clause: `That Congress
hereby consents to the acceptance by ______ of the
foreign payment described as follows: _____.', with the
first blank space filled in with the name of the senior
Federal official and the second blank space filled in
with a detailed description of the foreign payment.
``(2) Committee consideration.--A concurrent resolution
under this section shall be referred to the appropriate
committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate. One
such concurrent resolution shall be reported out by such
committee together with its recommendations within fifteen
legislative days after the day on which such resolution is
referred to such committee, unless such House shall otherwise
determine by the yeas and nays.
``(3) Consideration.--Any concurrent resolution so reported
shall become the pending business of the House in question (in
the case of the Senate the time for debate shall be equally
divided between the proponents and the opponents) and shall be
voted on within three legislative days after the day on which
such resolution is reported, unless such House shall otherwise
determine by yeas and nays.
``(4) Coordination.--Such a concurrent resolution passed by
one House shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the
other House and shall be reported out by such committee
together with its recommendations within fifteen legislative
days after the day on which such resolution is referred to such
committee and shall thereupon become the pending business of
such House and shall be voted upon within three legislative
days after the day on which such resolution is reported, unless
such House shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays.
``(5) Conference.--In the case of any disagreement between
the two Houses of Congress with respect to a joint resolution
passed by both Houses, conferees shall be promptly appointed
and the committee of conference shall make and file a report
with respect to such joint resolution within six legislative
days after the day on which managers on the part of the Senate
and the House have been appointed. Notwithstanding any rule in
either House concerning the printing of conference reports or
concerning any delay in the consideration of such reports, such
report shall be acted on by both Houses not later than six
legislative days after the conference report is filed in the
House in which such report is filed first. In the event the
conferees are unable to agree within forty-eight hours, they
shall report back to their respective Houses in disagreement.
``(c) Exercise of Rulemaking Powers.--This section is enacted by
the Congress--
``(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House
of Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such
they shall be considered as part of the rules of each House,
respectively, or of that House to which they specifically
apply, and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the
extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and
``(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of
either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such
House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent
as in the case of any other rule of such House.
``Sec. 7345. Penalties
``(a) Civil Action by the Attorney General.--The Attorney General
may bring a civil action against a senior Federal official in an
appropriate United States district court for a violation of section
7343 or 7344 for--
``(1) a civil monetary penalty in an amount not to exceed
$5,000 more than the retail value of the foreign payment; and
``(2) such injunctive relief as may be appropriate.
``(b) Criminal Penalty.--Whoever, being a senior Federal official,
knowingly violates section 7343 or 7344 shall be imprisoned for not
more than one year, fined in the amount of $50,000 or the total value
of the foreign payments accepted, whichever is greater, or both.
``(c) Forfeiture.--Any payment received, accepted, or retained in
violation of section 7343 or 7344 shall be seized and forfeited to the
United States in accordance with chapter 46 of title 18.
``(d) Actions by Private Persons.--A person may bring a civil
action for a violation of section 7343 or 7344 for the person and for
the United States Government in the same manner as an action under
section 3730(b) of title 31, except that--
``(1) any extension of time under section 3730(b)(3) of
title 31 shall not exceed 120 days;
``(2) section 3730(e)(2) of title 31 shall not apply; and
``(3) section 3730(e)(4) of title 31 shall not apply with
regard to a civil action brought against the President, the
Vice President, or the Attorney General.
``(e) Safe Harbor.--The penalties under this section shall not
apply with respect to a foreign payment made to a senior Federal
official if the official--
``(1) did not solicit the payment; and
``(2) not later than 72 hours after becoming aware of the
receipt of such a payment, and in no case later than 90 days
after its receipt--
``(A) notifies the Director (or, in the case of a
Member of Congress, the Select Committee on Ethics of
the Senate or the Committee on Ethics of the House of
Representatives, as the case may be) of the payment;
and
``(B) returns the payment in full to the entity
that made the payment or remits such payment to the
Treasury.''.
(b) Designation by OGE.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Government
Ethics shall publish, on the Office's public website, an initial list
of any individual designated by the Director under section
7343(c)(4)(E) of title 5, United States Code (as added by subsection
(a) of this Act). The Director shall update such list as appropriate.
(c) Clerical.--The table of sections for subchapter IV of chapter
73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding after the item
relating to section 7342 the following:
``7343. Prohibiting senior Federal officials from accepting foreign
payments.
``7344. Congressional review of foreign payments.
``7345. Penalties.''.
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY FOR OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS AND
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES.
(a) Enforcement.--
(1) In general.--Section 13122(a) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended--
(A) by striking ``The Director'' and inserting
``(1) In general.--The Director''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Foreign payments.--
``(A) In general.--The Director shall provide
overall direction of executive branch policies related
to compliance with sections 7343 through 7345, and
shall have authority to--
``(i) order individuals to take corrective
action; and
``(ii) pursuant to section 7345, require
disgorgement and divestiture of any foreign
payment received, accepted, or retained by a
senior Federal official without the consent of
Congress to ensure compliance by a senior
Federal official with the No Foreign Emoluments
Without Congressional Consent Act.
``(B) Definitions.--In this paragraph and for
purposes of subsection (b)(16), the terms `foreign
payment' and `senior Federal official' have the meaning
given those terms in section 7343(c).''.
(2) Specific authority.--Section 13122(b) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (14), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (15), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding after paragraph (15) the following:
``(16) developing and promulgating rules and regulations to
ensure compliance with the requirements of sections 7343
through 7345, including establishing--
``(A) a process for making required reports and
notifications to Congress;
``(B) a process for ensuring the surrender or
requiring the disgorgement and divestiture of a foreign
payment when Congress does not consent to retention of
the foreign payment;
``(C) a process for notifying Congress of non-
compliance with the requirements of section 7343 and
7344 or with any disapproval of retention of any
foreign payment by a senior Federal offici