II 

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. 

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 ‘‘No Foreign Emolu5 ments Without Congressional Consent Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING SENIOR FEDERAL OFFICIALS FROM 

2 ACCEPTING FOREIGN PAYMENTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 73 of 

4 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding after 

5 section 7342 the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 7343. Prohibiting senior Federal officials from ac7 cepting foreign payments 

8 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

10 senior Federal official to receive, accept, or retain a 

11 foreign payment, including through a business entity 

12 controlled by a senior Federal official, without first 

13 obtaining the consent of Congress pursuant to this 

14 section and section 7344. 

15 ‘‘(2) TWO-YEAR POST EMPLOYMENT.—During 

16 the 2-year period beginning on the date that an indi17 vidual leaves the position of a senior Federal official, 

18 it shall be unlawful for such individual to receive, ac19 cept, or retain a foreign payment, including through 

20 a business entity controlled by a senior Federal offi21 cial, without first obtaining the consent of Congress 

22 pursuant to this section and section 7344. Such in23 dividual shall make the requisite disclosures required 

24 under subsection (b) of this section. 

25 ‘‘(3) CANDIDATE REPORTS.—An individual 

26 other than an incumbent President or Vice President 


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1 who becomes a candidate (as defined in section 301 

2 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 

3 U.S.C. 30101)) for the office of President or Vice 

4 President shall submit a report to Congress at the 

5 end of each 30-day period such individual is such a 

6 candidate listing any foreign payments such indi7 vidual received during such period. 

8 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Any senior Federal official that 

10 wishes to receive, accept, or retain a foreign pay11 ment shall submit (in writing) notice to the Director 

12 prior to receiving, accepting, or retaining any foreign 

13 payment. Such request shall include, at a min14 imum— 

15 ‘‘(A) the name of, and position occupied 

16 by, the senior Federal official; 

17 ‘‘(B) details regarding the foreign payment 

18 the senior Federal official wishes to receive, ac19 cept, and retain, including the foreign govern20 ment that would provide the foreign payment, 

21 the type of payment and the financial instru22 ment to be used to provide the payment, the 

23 value of the foreign payment, and whether the 

24 foreign payment would be provided through a 

25 business entity, and, if so, the business entity 


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1 and the specific transaction through which it 

2 would be provided; and 

3 ‘‘(C) a statement confirming that the sen4 ior Federal official has not requested or other5 wise encouraged the tender of the foreign pay6 ment. 

7 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

8 than 10 days after receiving notice under paragraph 

9 (1), the Director shall submit such notice to Con10 gress. 

11 ‘‘(3) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—For purposes 

12 of carrying out this subsection with respect to Mem13 bers of Congress— 

14 ‘‘(A) with respect to any such Member who 

15 is a Senator, the term ‘the Select Committee on 

16 Ethics of the Senate’ shall be substituted for 

17 ‘Director’; and 

18 ‘‘(B) with respect to any such Member who 

19 is a Member of the House of Representatives, 

20 the term ‘Committee on Ethics of the House of 

21 Representatives’ shall be substituted for ‘Direc22 tor’. 

23 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section and 

24 sections 7344 and 7345— 

25 ‘‘(1) the term ‘business entity’— 


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1 ‘‘(A) means a for-profit corporation, asso2 ciation, partnership, limited liability company, 

3 limited liability partnership, other legal entity, 

4 or sole proprietorship in which a senior Federal 

5 official has an ownership stake; and 

6 ‘‘(B) does not include an entity in which 

7 more than 100 people have an ownership stake 

8 and the senior Federal official holds no more 

9 than 5 percent in a beneficial ownership stake 

10 and that— 

11 ‘‘(i) issues securities registered with 

12 the Securities and Exchange Commission 

13 pursuant to section 12 of the Securities 

14 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l); 

15 ‘‘(ii) is an investment company reg16 istered pursuant to section 8 of the Invest17 ment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 

18 80a–8) that does not have a stated policy 

19 of concentrating the investments of the in20 vestment company in any industry, busi21 ness, single country other than the United 

22 States, or bonds of a single State within 

23 the United States; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) is a unit investment trust, as de25 fined in section 4 of the Investment ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Jul 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4390.IS S4390

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1 pany Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–4) 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(I) is a regulated investment 

4 company, as defined in section 851 of 

5 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(II) does not have a stated pol8 icy of concentrating the investments 

9 of the investment company in any in10 dustry, business, single country other 

11 than the United States, or bonds of a 

12 single State within the United States; 

13 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

14 the Office of Government Ethics; 

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘foreign payment’— 

16 ‘‘(A) means any direct or indirect payment 

17 in any form, including any tangible item, aris18 ing from commercial transactions of any kind, 

19 including any payment involving a business en20 tity, whether or not at fair market value from— 

21 ‘‘(i) any foreign government (as that 

22 term is defined in section 7342(a)); 

23 ‘‘(ii) any corporate enterprise engaged 

24 in commercial endeavors owned 50 percent 


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1 or more or controlled by a foreign govern2 ment; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) any member of the family of a 

4 sovereign in a monarchical government; 

5 ‘‘(B) does not include any gift or decora6 tion covered under section 7342; and 

7 ‘‘(4) the term ‘senior Federal official’ means— 

8 ‘‘(A) the President and the Vice President; 

9 ‘‘(B) a Member of Congress (as that term 

10 is defined in section 2106); 

11 ‘‘(C) the head of any Executive depart12 ment; 

13 ‘‘(D) any individual employed on the staff 

14 of the President in a position with the title of 

15 Assistant to the President, Deputy Assistant to 

16 the President, Special Assistant to the Presi17 dent, Advisor to the President, or Counselor to 

18 the President; and 

19 ‘‘(E) any other senior United States Gov20 ernment employee designated by the Director. 

21 ‘‘§ 7344. Congressional review of request to receive, 

22 accept, and retain foreign payment 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A senior Federal official may not 

24 receive, accept, or retain a foreign payment unless Con25 gress has, prior to such receipt, acceptance, or retention, 


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1 consented through enactment of a concurrent resolution 

2 of approval as provided under this section. 

3 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 

5 ‘concurrent resolution’ means only a concurrent res6 olution— 

7 ‘‘(A) introduced during the period begin8 ning on the date Congress receives notice from 

9 the Director under section 7343(b)(2) and end10 ing on the date that is 90 days thereafter; and 

11 ‘‘(B) consisting only of the following text 

12 in the matter following the resolving clause: 

13 ‘That Congress hereby consents to the accept14 ance by llllll of the foreign payment 

15 described as follows: lllll.’, with the 

16 first blank space filled in with the name of the 

17 senior Federal official and the second blank 

18 space filled in with a detailed description of the 

19 foreign payment. 

20 ‘‘(2) COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION.—A concur21 rent resolution under this section shall be referred to 

22 the appropriate committee of the House of Rep23 resentatives and the Senate. One such concurrent 

24 resolution shall be reported out by such committee 

25 together with its recommendations within fifteen legVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:55 Jul 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4390.IS S4390

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1 islative days after the day on which such resolution 

2 is referred to such committee, unless such House 

3 shall otherwise determine by the yeas and nays. 

4 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION.—Any concurrent resolu5 tion so reported shall become the pending business 

6 of the House in question (in the case of the Senate 

7 the time for debate shall be equally divided between 

8 the proponents and the opponents) and shall be 

9 voted on within three legislative days after the day 

10 on which such resolution is reported, unless such 

11 House shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays. 

12 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION.—Such a concurrent reso13 lution passed by one House shall be referred to the 

14 appropriate committee of the other House and shall 

15 be reported out by such committee together with its 

16 recommendations within fifteen legislative days after 

17 the day on which such resolution is referred to such 

18 committee and shall thereupon become the pending 

19 business of such House and shall be voted upon 

20 within three legislative days after the day on which 

21 such resolution is reported, unless such House shall 

22 otherwise determine by yeas and nays. 

23 ‘‘(5) CONFERENCE.—In the case of any dis24 agreement between the two Houses of Congress with 

25 respect to a joint resolution passed by both Houses, 


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1 conferees shall be promptly appointed and the com2 mittee of conference shall make and file a report 

3 with respect to such joint resolution within six legis4 lative days after the day on which managers on the 

5 part of the Senate and the House have been ap6 pointed. Notwithstanding any rule in either House 

7 concerning the printing of conference reports or con8 cerning any delay in the consideration of such re9 ports, such report shall be acted on by both Houses 

10 not later than six legislative days after the con11 ference report is filed in the House in which such re12 port is filed first. In the event the conferees are un13 able to agree within forty-eight hours, they shall re14 port back to their respective Houses in disagree15 ment. 

16 ‘‘(c) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—This 

17 section is enacted by the Congress— 

18 ‘‘(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

19 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re20 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as 

21 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of 

22 that House to which they specifically apply, and 

23 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex24 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

2 right of either House to change such rules (so far 

3 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same 

4 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of 

5 any other rule of such House. 

6 ‘‘§ 7345. Penalties 

7 ‘‘(a) CIVIL ACTION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

8 The Attorney General may bring a civil action against a 

9 senior Federal official in an appropriate United States dis10 trict court for a violation of section 7343 or 7344 for— 

11 ‘‘(1) a civil monetary penalty in an amount not 

12 to exceed $5,000 more than the retail value of the 

13 foreign payment; and 

14 ‘‘(2) such injunctive relief as may be appro15 priate. 

16 ‘‘(b) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Whoever, being a senior 

17 Federal official, knowingly violates section 7343 or 7344 

18 shall be imprisoned for not more than one year, fined in 

19 the amount of $50,000 or the total value of the foreign 

20 payments accepted, whichever is greater, or both. 

21 ‘‘(c) FORFEITURE.—Any payment received, accepted, 

22 or retained in violation of section 7343 or 7344 shall be 

23 seized and forfeited to the United States in accordance 

24 with chapter 46 of title 18. 


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1 ‘‘(d) ACTIONS BY PRIVATE PERSONS.—A person may 

2 bring a civil action for a violation of section 7343 or 7344 

3 for the person and for the United States Government in 

4 the same manner as an action under section 3730(b) of 

5 title 31, except that— 

6 ‘‘(1) any extension of time under section 

7 3730(b)(3) of title 31 shall not exceed 120 days; 

8 ‘‘(2) section 3730(e)(2) of title 31 shall not 

9 apply; and 

10 ‘‘(3) section 3730(e)(4) of title 31 shall not 

11 apply with regard to a civil action brought against 

12 the President, the Vice President, or the Attorney 

13 General. 

14 ‘‘(e) SAFE HARBOR.—The penalties under this sec15 tion shall not apply with respect to a foreign payment 

16 made to a senior Federal official if the official— 

17 ‘‘(1) did not solicit the payment; and 

18 ‘‘(2) not later than 72 hours after becoming 

19 aware of the receipt of such a payment, and in no 

20 case later than 90 days after its receipt— 

21 ‘‘(A) notifies the Director (or, in the case 

22 of a Member of Congress, the Select Committee 

23 on Ethics of the Senate or the Committee on 

24 Ethics of the House of Representatives, as the 

25 case may be) of the payment; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) returns the payment in full to the en2 tity that made the payment or remits such pay3 ment to the Treasury.’’. 

4 (b) DESIGNATION BY OGE.—Not later than 90 days 

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

6 of the Office of Government Ethics shall publish, on the 

7 Office’s public website, an initial list of any individual des8 ignated by the Director under section 7343(c)(4)(E) of 

9 title 5, United States Code (as added by subsection (a) 

10 of this Act). The Director shall update such list as appro11 priate. 

12 (c) CLERICAL.—The table of sections for subchapter 

13 IV of chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amend14 ed by adding after the item relating to section 7342 the 

15 following: 

‘‘7343. Prohibiting senior Federal officials from accepting foreign payments. 

‘‘7344. Congressional review of foreign payments. 

‘‘7345. Penalties.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY FOR OFFICE OF GOV17 ERNMENT ETHICS AND FINANCIAL DISCLO18 SURES. 

19 (a) ENFORCEMENT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 13122(a) of title 5, 

21 United States Code, is amended— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘The Director’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN PAYMENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

3 provide overall direction of executive branch 

4 policies related to compliance with sections 

5 7343 through 7345, and shall have authority 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(i) order individuals to take correc8 tive action; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) pursuant to section 7345, require 

10 disgorgement and divestiture of any for11 eign payment received, accepted, or re12 tained by a senior Federal official without 

13 the consent of Congress to ensure compli14 ance by a senior Federal official with the 

15 No Foreign Emoluments Without Congres16 sional Consent Act. 

17 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph 

18 and for purposes of subsection (b)(16), the 

19 terms ‘foreign payment’ and ‘senior Federal of20 ficial’ have the meaning given those terms in 

21 section 7343(c).’’. 

22 (2) SPECIFIC AUTHORITY.—Section 13122(b) of 

23 title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

24 (A) in paragraph (14), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

25 at the end; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (15), by striking the pe2 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (C) by adding after paragraph (15) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(16) developing and promulgating rules and 

6 regulations to ensure compliance with the require7 ments of sections 7343 through 7345, including es8 tablishing— 

9 ‘‘(A) a process for making required reports 

10 and notifications to Congress; 

11 ‘‘(B) a process for ensuring the surrender 

12 or requiring the disgorgement and divestiture of 

13 a foreign payment when Congress does not con14 sent to retention of the foreign payment; 

15 ‘‘(C) a process for notifying Congress of 

16 non-compliance with the requirements of section 

17 7343 and 7344 or with any disapproval of re18 tention of any foreign payment by a senior Fed19 eral official; and 

20 ‘‘(D) such other matters as are necessary 

21 to ensure compliance with the requirements of 

22 section 7343 and 7344.’’. 

23 (b) DISCLOSURES.—Section 13104(a) of title 5, 

24 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(9) FOREIGN PAYMENTS.—Any foreign pay2 ment received by a senior Federal official on or be3 fore the date of filing during the preceding calendar 

4 year, including the source, date, type, amount or 

5 value, date of surrender, or the date of adoption by 

6 Congress of a concurrent resolution approving the 

7 retention of the foreign payment under section 7344. 

8 In this paragraph, the terms ‘foreign payment’ and 

9 ‘senior Federal official’ have the meaning given 

10 those terms in section 7343(c). 

11 ‘‘(10) PAYMENTS TO BUSINESS INTEREST.— 

12 Each business interest of a senior Federal official 

13 that is reasonably expected to result in the receipt 

14 of any foreign payment during the current calendar 

15 year. In this paragraph, the terms ‘foreign payment’ 

16 and ‘senior Federal official’ have the meaning given 

17 those terms in section 7343(c).’’. 

18 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 

19 If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 

20 this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 

21 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu22 tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 

23 by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 


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1 amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

2 affected by the holding. 

Æ 


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