I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5433 

To require the disclosure of foreign business interests of senior Government 

officials and their spouses and family members, to require the President 

and Vice President to disclose their tax returns, to prevent political 

appointees from receiving payments from foreign entities, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2019 

Ms. PORTER (for herself and Mr. ROSE of New York) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 

in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and the Judiciary, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the disclosure of foreign business interests of 

senior Government officials and their spouses and family 

members, to require the President and Vice President 

to disclose their tax returns, to prevent political appointees from receiving payments from foreign entities, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency in Exec3 utive Branch Official Finances Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FOREIGN FINANCIAL INTERESTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Ethics in Gov6 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 102) is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(j)(1) Any report filed pursuant to section 101(d) 

9 by a senior Government official shall include— 

10 ‘‘(A) a description of any foreign business rela11 tionship of the official or spouse or member of fam12 ily of the official; 

13 ‘‘(B) with respect to any member of family of 

14 the official, the information required to be disclosed 

15 with respect to a spouse of the official under this 

16 title, including those under section 102(e); and 

17 ‘‘(C) a disclosure on whether the official or 

18 spouse or member of family of the official owns— 

19 ‘‘(i) either directly or in combination with 

20 the holdings of any trust controlled by the 

21 member, ten percent or more of the outstanding 

22 shares in a private enterprise or corporation; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) any intellectual property (including 

24 any trademark, copyright, or patent) protected 

25 or enforced by a foreign country. 


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1 ‘‘(2) With respect to any affirmative disclosure made 

2 under paragraph (1)(C)(i), the disclosure shall include— 

3 ‘‘(A) the name of any applicable private enter4 prise or corporation; 

5 ‘‘(B) whether the private enterprise or corpora6 tion has engaged in, during the previous 5 years, 

7 any business dealing (including any sale, purchase, 

8 rental, disposition or exchange of any goods, serv9 ices, or property, any license, permit, grant or ben10 efit transaction) equal to or greater than $25,000 

11 with a publicly traded company with foreign major12 ity shareholders, a foreign-owned business, an orga13 nization associated with a foreign-owned business, or 

14 a foreign national; and 

15 ‘‘(C) with respect to any affirmative disclosure 

16 under subparagraph (B), a list of any applicable 

17 publicly traded company with foreign majority share18 holders, foreign-owned business, organization associ19 ated with a foreign-owned business, or foreign na20 tional. 

21 ‘‘(3) With respect to any affirmative disclosure made 

22 under paragraph (1)(C)(ii), a description of the applicable 

23 intellectual property. 

24 ‘‘(4) In this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘foreign business relationship’, 

2 when used in connection with a senior Government 

3 official or their spouse or member of family, means 

4 any instance where the official, spouse, or member 

5 of family (as the case may be) holds any position 

6 with— 

7 ‘‘(i) a publicly traded company with foreign 

8 majority shareholders; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) a foreign-owned business or an orga10 nization associated with a foreign-owned busi11 ness; 

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘foreign-owned business’ means a 

13 partnership, association, corporation, organization, 

14 or other combination of persons organized under the 

15 laws of or having its principal place of business in 

16 a foreign country; 

17 ‘‘(C) the term ‘member of family’, when used in 

18 connection with a senior Government official, means 

19 a parent, sibling, child (including an adopted child 

20 or a step-child), aunt, uncle, or first cousin of the 

21 official; and 

22 ‘‘(D) the term ‘senior Government official’ 

23 means— 

24 ‘‘(i) the President; 

25 ‘‘(ii) the Vice President; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) any political appointee (as that term 

2 is defined in section 221(c)(2) of title 18, 

3 United States Code).’’. 

4 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub5 section (a) shall apply to any report filed pursuant to sec6 tion 101(d) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 

7 U.S.C. App. 101(d)) after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act. 

9 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS OF PRESIDENT AND 

10 VICE PRESIDENT AND CANDIDATES. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Ethics in Gov12 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), as amended by sec13 tion 1, is further amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(k)(1) Any report filed pursuant to section 101(d) 

16 by the President or the Vice President shall include the 

17 President’s or Vice President’s (as the case may be) return 

18 of Federal income tax for the previous 5 taxable years. 

19 ‘‘(2) Any report filed pursuant to section 101(c) by 

20 an individual who is a candidate for the office of President 

21 or Vice President shall include the individual’s return of 

22 Federal income tax for the previous 5 taxable years. 

23 ‘‘(3) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics 

24 may issue regulations authorizing the redaction of per25 sonal information as the Director deems necessary to preVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5433.IH H5433

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1 vent identity theft or physical danger from disclosure of 

2 tax returns required under paragraphs (1) and (2). 

3 ‘‘(4) Not later than 30 days after the date that any 

4 tax returns are submitted by the President or Vice Presi5 dent pursuant to paragraph (1) or an individual who is 

6 a candidate for the office of President or Vice President 

7 pursuant to paragraph (2), the Director shall publish such 

8 tax returns on the public Internet website of the Office.’’. 

9 (b) DISCLOSURE PERMITTED.—Section 6103(i) of 

10 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

11 at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(9) DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS UNDER

13 THE ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 1978.—The 

14 Director of the Office of Government Ethics may 

15 publicly disclose returns described in section 102(k) 

16 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

17 App. 102(k)) to the extent such returns are required 

18 to be made available pursuant to such section.’’. 

19 (c) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by sub20 sections (a) and (b) shall apply to any report filed pursu21 ant to section 101(c) or 101(d) of the Ethics in Govern22 ment Act of 1978 and any disclosure made under section 

23 6103(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, respec24 tively, after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON RECEIPT OF PAYMENTS FROM 

2 FOREIGN ENTITIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended by inserting after section 220 the following: 

5 ‘‘§ 221. Prohibition on receipt of payments from for6 eign entities 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, being a political ap8 pointee, solicits or receives any payment (in cash or in 

9 kind) from any foreign-owned business, any organization 

10 affiliated with a foreign-owned business, any organization 

11 affiliated with a foreign government, or a foreign national, 

12 shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216. 

13 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—This section does not apply to— 

14 ‘‘(1) any payment (including interest, dividends, 

15 or capital gains) resulting from an investment in any 

16 stock, mutual fund, or trust described in section 

17 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which 

18 is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 

19 such Code (including the Thrift Savings Plan under 

20 subchapter III of chapter 84 of title 5); or 

21 ‘‘(2) any discounts, rebates, or promotional of22 ferings associated with a bona-fide transaction with 

23 a foreign-owned business or an organization associ24 ated with a foreign-owned business. 

25 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘foreign-owned business’ has the 

2 meaning given that term in section 102(j)(3)(B) of 

3 the Ethics in Government Act of 1978; and 

4 ‘‘(2) the term ‘political appointee’ means any 

5 individual within the executive branch of Govern6 ment— 

7 ‘‘(A) appointed by the President, by and 

8 with the advice and consent of the Senate; 

9 ‘‘(B) occupying a position in the Senior 

10 Executive Service as a noncareer appointee (as 

11 such term is defined in section 3132(a) of title 

12 5); 

13 ‘‘(C) occupying a senior position of a con14 fidential or policy-determining character under 

15 schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, 

16 Code of Federal Regulations; or 

17 ‘‘(D) occupying any other position which 

18 has been excepted from the competitive service 

19 by reason of its confidential, policy-determining, 

20 policy-making, or policy-advocating character.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

22 for chapter 11 of such title is amended by inserting after 

23 the item relating to section 220 the following new item: 

‘‘221. Prohibition on receipt of payments from foreign entities.’’. 

24 (c) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub25 section (a) shall apply to any payment described under 


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1 section 221 of title 18, United States Code, as added by 

2 subsection (a), received by a political appointee after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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