II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2559 

To make it illegal for anyone to defraud and deprive the American people 

of the right to the honest services of a Member of Congress and to 

instill greater public confidence in the United States Congress. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6, 2006 

Mr. LEAHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To make it illegal for anyone to defraud and deprive the 

American people of the right to the honest services of 

a Member of Congress and to instill greater public confidence in the United States Congress. 

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 ‘‘Honest Services Act 

5 of 2006’’. 


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•S 2559 IS

1 SEC. 2. HONEST SERVICES FRAUD INVOLVING MEMBERS 

2 OF CONGRESS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 18, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 1351. Honest services fraud involving members of 

7 Congress 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly and willfully 

9 executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice to 

10 defraud and deprive the United States, the Congress, or 

11 the constituents of a Member of Congress, of the right 

12 to the honest services of a Member of Congress by— 

13 ‘‘(1) offering and providing to a Member of 

14 Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress, 

15 anything of value or a series of things of value, with 

16 the intent to influence the performance an official 

17 act or series of official acts; or 

18 ‘‘(2) being a Member of Congress, or an em19 ployee of a Member of Congress, accepting anything 

20 of value or a series of things of value or holding an 

21 undisclosed financial interest, with the intent to be 

22 influenced in performing an official act or series of 

23 official acts; 

24 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 

25 20 years, or both. 

26 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) HONEST SERVICES.—The term ‘honest 

2 services’ includes the right to conscientious, loyal, 

3 faithful, disinterested, and unbiased service, to be 

4 performed free of deceit, undue influence, conflict of 

5 interest, self-enrichment, self-dealing, concealment, 

6 bribery, fraud, and corruption. 

7 ‘‘(2) OFFICIAL ACT.—The term ‘official act’— 

8 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given that term in 

9 section 201(a)(3) of this title; and 

10 ‘‘(B) includes supporting and passing legis11 lation, placing a statement in the Congressional 

12 Record, participating in a meeting, conducting 

13 hearings, or advancing or advocating for an ap14 plication to obtain a contract with the United 

15 States Government. 

16 ‘‘(3) UNDISCLOSED FINANCIAL INTEREST.— 

17 The term ‘undisclosed financial interest’ includes 

18 any financial interest not disclosed as required by 

19 statute or by the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

20 ‘‘(c) NO INFERENCE AND SCOPE.—Nothing in this 

21 section shall be construed to— 

22 ‘‘(1) create any inference with respect to wheth23 er the conduct described in section 1351 of this title 

24 was already a criminal or civil offense prior to the 

25 enactment of this section; or 


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•S 2559 IS

1 ‘‘(2) limit the scope of any existing criminal or 

2 civil offense.’’. 

3 (b) CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The chapter analysis for 

4 chapter 63 of title 18, United States Code is amended by 

5 adding at the end, the following: 

‘‘1351. Honest services fraud involving Members of Congress.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO 

7 INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE HONEST 

8 SERVICES FRAUD, BRIBERY, GRAFT, AND 

9 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OFFENSES. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De11 partment of Justice, including the Public Integrity Section 

12 of the Criminal Division, and the Federal Bureau of Inves13 tigations, $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007, 

14 2008, 2009, and 2010, to increase the number of per15 sonnel to investigate and prosecute violations of section 

16 1351 and sections 201, 203 through 209, 1001, 1341, 

17 1343, and 1346 of title 18, United States Code, as amend18 ed by this Act. 

Æ 


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