II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 761 

To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the President, 

the Vice President, and political appointees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16, 2021 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. COTTON, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by 

the President, the Vice President, and political appointees, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Executive Branch 

5 Emissions Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DATABASE ON FOSSIL FUEL-POWERED TRAVEL BY 

7 THE PRESIDENT, THE VICE PRESIDENT, AND 

8 POLITICAL APPOINTEES. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 761 IS

1 (1) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 individual’’ means— 

3 (A) the President; 

4 (B) the Vice President; and 

5 (C) a political appointee. 

6 (2) COVERED TRAVEL.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 travel’’ means— 

8 (A) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by 

9 a covered individual on official business; and 

10 (B) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by 

11 a covered individual that is paid for by a third 

12 party, if the covered individual is appearing in 

13 their official capacity. 

14 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

15 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg16 et. 

17 (4) POLITICAL APPOINTEE.—The term ‘‘polit18 ical appointee’’ means any individual— 

19 (A) occupying a position in the Executive 

20 Office of the President or in the Office of the 

21 Vice President for which appointment is made 

22 by the President or Vice President, without re23 gard to whether the appointment is made by 

24 and with the advice and consent of the Senate; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 761 IS

1 (B) occupying position on the executive 

2 schedule under sections 5312 through 5316 of 

3 title 5, United States Code; 

4 (C) who is a limited term appointee, lim5 ited emergency appointee, or noncareer ap6 pointee in the Senior Executive Service as de7 fined in paragraphs (5), (6), and (7) of section 

8 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code, respec9 tively; 

10 (D) occupying a position in the executive 

11 branch of the Government of a confidential or 

12 policy-determining character under Schedule C 

13 of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of 

14 Federal Regulations; 

15 (E) occupying a position for which ap16 pointment is made by the President and does 

17 not require the advice and consent of the Sen18 ate; 

19 (F) who is an Ambassador; or 

20 (G) who is— 

21 (i) a member of the staff of an Am22 bassador; 

23 (ii) not a member of the Foreign 

24 Service; and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 761 IS

1 (iii) occupying a position for which 

2 appointment is made by the President, 

3 without regard to whether the appointment 

4 is made by and with the advice and con5 sent of the Senate. 

6 (5) RELEVANT HEAD.—The term ‘‘relevant 

7 head’’ means— 

8 (A) with respect to a political appointee de9 scribed in subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E), 

10 the head of the Federal entity in which the po11 litical appointee occupies their position; 

12 (B) with respect to the President, the Vice 

13 President, or a political appointee described in 

14 paragraph (4)(A), the White House Office of 

15 Management and Administration; and 

16 (C) with respect to a political appointee de17 scribed in subparagraph (F) or (G) of para18 graph (4), the Secretary of State. 

19 (b) DATABASE.— 

20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

22 shall establish and maintain a publicly accessible 

23 and searchable database of covered travel. 

24 (2) SUBMISSION TO RELEVANT HEAD.—Not 

25 later than 30 days after the date on which a covered 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 761 IS

1 individual has taken covered travel and has returned 

2 to the origin of the trip, the covered individual shall 

3 submit to the relevant head a report on the covered 

4 travel, which shall include— 

5 (A) the name of each covered individual on 

6 the covered travel; 

7 (B) the mode of travel; 

8 (C) the origin and destination; 

9 (D) a description of the covered travel; 

10 (E) miles traveled; 

11 (F) the estimated carbon emissions result12 ing from the covered travel; and 

13 (G) a description of any action taken to 

14 limit the carbon emissions associated with the 

15 covered travel. 

16 (3) SUBMISSION TO OMB.—Not later than the 

17 1st of each month, each relevant head shall submit 

18 to the Director a report that includes the informa19 tion received under paragraph (2) during the pre20 ceding month relating to covered travel. 

21 (4) PUBLICATION BY OMB.—Not later than the 

22 15th of each month, the Director shall update the 

23 database established under this subsection with the 

24 reports submitted under paragraph (3) during the 

25 preceding month. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 761 IS

1 (5) EXCEPTION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

2 RISK.—The Director shall not publish on the data3 base established under this subsection information 

4 described in paragraph (2) if the publication of that 

5 information could be deemed a national security 

6 risk. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS