I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8696 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish a uniform 2-year postemployment ban on the lobbying of any officer or employee of the 

executive branch or any Member, officer, or employee of Congress by 

former executive branch officials and former Members, officers, and employees of Congress, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2024 

Ms. PORTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish a uniform 2-year post-employment ban on the lobbying of 

any officer or employee of the executive branch or any 

Member, officer, or employee of Congress by former executive branch officials and former Members, officers, and 

employees of Congress, 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 ‘‘Block the Revolving 

5 Door Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. 2-YEAR POST-EMPLOYMENT BAN ON LOBBYING OF 

2 EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH BY 

3 ALL FORMER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. 

4 (a) 2-YEAR POST-EMPLOYMENT BAN ON LOBBYING

5 OF EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH.— 

6 (1) LOBBYING BY FORMER EXECUTIVE BRANCH

7 OFFICIALS.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of sec9 tion 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, is 

10 amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the re13 strictions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), 

14 any person who is an officer or employee (in15 cluding any special Government employee) of 

16 the executive branch of the United States (in17 cluding an independent agency), who is referred 

18 to in paragraph (2), and who, within 2 years 

19 after the termination of his or her service or 

20 employment as such officer or employee, know21 ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any 

22 communication to or appearance before any in23 dividual described in subparagraph (B) on be24 half of any other person (except the United 

25 States) in connection with any matter on which 

26 such other person seeks official action by such 


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1 individual, shall be punished as provided in sec2 tion 216 of this title. 

3 ‘‘(B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi4 vidual described in this subparagraph is any of 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) An officer or employee of the ex7 ecutive branch of the United States (in8 cluding an independent agency). 

9 ‘‘(ii) A Member of Congress. 

10 ‘‘(iii) An elected officer of the Senate 

11 or an employee of the Senate. 

12 ‘‘(iv) An elected officer of the House 

13 of Representatives or an employee of the 

14 House of Representatives. 

15 ‘‘(v) An employee of any other legisla16 tive office of the Congress.’’. 

17 (B) DESCRIPTION OF FORMER EXECUTIVE

18 BRANCH OFFICIALS SUBJECT TO BAN.—Sub19 paragraph (A) of section 207(c)(2) of such title 

20 is amended— 

21 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 

22 clause (iv); 

23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

24 of clause (v) and inserting a semicolon; 

25 and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new clauses: 

3 ‘‘(vi) serves in the position of Vice Presi4 dent of the United States; 

5 ‘‘(vii) is employed in a position in the exec6 utive branch of the United States (including 

7 any independent agency) at a rate of pay pay8 able for level I of the Executive Schedule or em9 ployed in a position in the Executive Office of 

10 the President at a rate of pay payable for level 

11 II of the Executive Schedule; or 

12 ‘‘(viii) is appointed by the President to a 

13 position under section 105(a)(2)(A) of title 3 or 

14 by the Vice President to a position under sec15 tion 106(a)(1)(A) of title 3.’’. 

16 (C) ELIMINATION OF SEPARATE 2-YEAR

17 BAN FOR SENIOR EXECUTIVE BRANCH OFFI18 CIALS.—Section 207 of such title is amended by 

19 striking subsection (d). 

20 (D) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

21 207 of such title is amended— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (A) of subsection 

23 (c)(2), by striking ‘‘(other than a person 

24 subject to the restrictions of subsection 

25 (d))’’; 


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1 (ii) in paragraph (9) of subsection (e), 

2 by striking ‘‘As used in this subsection’’ 

3 and inserting ‘‘As used in this section’’; 

4 (iii) in paragraph (1) of subsection 

5 (f), by striking ‘‘subsection (c), (d), or (e)’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘subsection (c) or (e)’’; 

7 (iv) in subparagraph (A) of subsection 

8 (i)(1), by striking ‘‘subsections (a), (c), 

9 and (d),’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) 

10 and (c),’’; 

11 (v) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘sub12 sections (c), (d), and (e)’’ each place it ap13 pears in paragraph (2), subparagraph (A) 

14 of paragraph (7), and subparagraph (B)(ii) 

15 of paragraph (7) and inserting ‘‘sub16 sections (c) and (e)’’ ; and 

17 (vi) in paragraph (5) of subsection (j), 

18 by striking ‘‘subsections (a), (c), and (d)’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) and (c)’’. 

20 (2) LOBBYING BY FORMER MEMBERS AND EM21 PLOYEES OF CONGRESS AND OTHER LEGISLATIVE

22 BRANCH OFFICIALS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(e) of such 

24 title is amended by striking paragraphs (1) 

25 through (6) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTIONS DESCRIBED.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person who is a 

3 covered legislative branch official and who, 

4 within 2 years after leaving office or the termi5 nation of his or her service or employment as 

6 such an official, knowingly makes, with the in7 tent to influence, any communication to or ap8 pearance before any individual described in sub9 paragraph (C) on behalf of any other person 

10 (except the United States) in connection with 

11 any matter on which such other person seeks 

12 official action by such individual, shall be pun13 ished as provided in section 216 of this title. 

14 ‘‘(B) COVERED LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF15 FICIAL DESCRIBED.—In this paragraph, a ‘cov16 ered legislative branch official’ is any of the fol17 lowing individuals: 

18 ‘‘(i) A Member of Congress. 

19 ‘‘(ii) An elected officer of the Senate 

20 or an elected officer of the House of Rep21 resentatives. 

22 ‘‘(iii) An employee of the Senate or an 

23 employee of the House of Representatives 

24 to whom paragraph (2)(A) applies. 


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1 ‘‘(iv) An employee of any other legis2 lative office of the Congress to whom para3 graph (2)(B) applies. 

4 ‘‘(C) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi5 vidual described in this subparagraph is any of 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(i) An officer or employee of the ex8 ecutive branch of the United States (in9 cluding an independent agency). 

10 ‘‘(ii) A Member of Congress. 

11 ‘‘(iii) An elected officer of the Senate 

12 or an employee of the Senate. 

13 ‘‘(iv) An elected officer of the House 

14 of Representatives or an employee of the 

15 House of Representatives. 

16 ‘‘(v) An employee of any other legisla17 tive office of the Congress.’’. 

18 (B) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

19 207(e) of such title is amended— 

20 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (7), 

21 (8), and (9) as paragraphs (2), (3), and 

22 (4); 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph 

24 (2) (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘The 

25 restrictions contained in paragraphs (2), 


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1 (3), (4), and (5) apply only to acts by a 

2 former employee’’ and inserting the fol3 lowing: ‘‘The restrictions contained in 

4 paragraph (1) apply only to acts by a 

5 former employee of the Senate or a former 

6 employee of the House of Representa7 tives’’; 

8 (iii) in subparagraph (B) of para9 graph (2) (as so redesignated), by striking 

10 ‘‘The restrictions contained in paragraph 

11 (6) apply only to acts by a former em12 ployee’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘The 

13 restrictions contained in paragraph (1) 

14 apply only to acts by a former employee of 

15 any other legislative office of the Con16 gress’’; and 

17 (iv) in subparagraph (G) of paragraph 

18 (4) (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘any 

19 other agency, entity, or office in the legis20 lative branch not covered by paragraph 

21 (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of this subsection’’ 

22 and inserting the following: ‘‘and any other 

23 officer or employee of the legislative 

24 branch who is not an employee of the 


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1 House of Representatives or an employee 

2 of the Senate’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO OTHER POST4 EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS.— 

5 (1) AIDING AND ADVISING ON TRADE OR TREA6 TY NEGOTIATION.—Section 207(b) of such title is 

7 amended— 

8 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘ONE– 

9 YEAR’’ and inserting ‘‘TWO–YEAR’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘1–year 

11 period’’ and inserting ‘‘2–year period’’; and 

12 (C) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a period 

13 of 1 year’’ and inserting ‘‘a period of 2 years’’. 

14 (2) REPRESENTATION OF FOREIGN ENTITIES.— 

15 Paragraph (1) of section 207(f) of such title is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘within 1 year’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘within 2 years’’. 

18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall apply with respect to any individual who, 

20 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, leaves 

21 a position to which subsection (a), (b), (c), or (e) of section 

22 207 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by this 

23 section, applies. 

Æ 


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