II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2417 

To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door lobbying. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 3, 2014 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door 

lobbying. 

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 ‘‘Close the Revolving 

5 Door Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIFETIME BAN ON MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM 

7 LOBBYING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, 

9 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—Any person 

2 who is a Senator, a Member of the House of Rep3 resentatives or an elected officer of the Senate or the 

4 House of Representatives and who after that person 

5 leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to in6 fluence, any communication to or appearance before 

7 any Member, officer, or employee of either House of 

8 Congress or any employee of any other legislative of9 fice of the Congress, on behalf of any other person 

10 (except the United States) in connection with any 

11 matter on which such former Senator, Member, or 

12 elected official seeks action by a Member, officer, or 

13 employee of either House of Congress, in his or her 

14 official capacity, shall be punished as provided in 

15 section 216 of this title.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 207(e)(2) 

17 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 

18 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND

19 STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; and 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 

21 or’’. 

22 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL STAFF. 

23 Paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5)(A), and (6)(A) of sec24 tion 207(e) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

25 by striking ‘‘1 year’’ and inserting ‘‘6 years’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. IMPROVED REPORTING OF LOBBYISTS’ ACTIVITIES. 

2 Section 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

3 U.S.C. 1605) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(c) JOINT WEB SITE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Sen7 ate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

8 shall maintain a joint lobbyist disclosure Internet 

9 database for information required to be publicly dis10 closed under this Act which shall be an easily 

11 searchable Web site called lobbyists.gov with a stat12 ed goal of simplicity of usage. 

13 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

14 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

15 this subsection $100,000 for fiscal year 2015.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. LOBBYIST REVOLVING DOOR TO CONGRESS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any person who is a registered 

18 lobbyist or an agent of a foreign principal may not within 

19 6 years after that person leaves such position be hired by 

20 a Member or committee of either House of Congress with 

21 whom the registered lobbyist or an agent of a foreign prin22 cipal has had substantial lobbying contact. 

23 (b) WAIVER.—This section may be waived in the Sen24 ate or the House of Representatives by the Committee on 

25 Ethics or the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 

26 based on a compelling national need. 


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1 (c) SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING CONTACT.—For pur2 poses of this section, in determining whether a registered 

3 lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal has had substantial 

4 lobbying contact within the applicable period of time, the 

5 Member or committee of either House of Congress shall 

6 take into consideration whether the individual’s lobbying 

7 contacts have pertained to pending legislative business, or 

8 related to solicitation of an earmark or other Federal 

9 funding, particularly if such contacts included the coordi10 nation of meetings with the Member or staff, involved 

11 presentations to staff, or participation in fundraising ex12 ceeding the mere giving of a personal contribution. Simple 

13 social contacts with the Member or committee of either 

14 House of Congress and staff, shall not by themselves con15 stitute substantial lobbying contacts. 

16 SEC. 6. REPORTING BY SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTITIES. 

17 The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 

18 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 6 the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 6A. REPORTING BY SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTI21 TIES. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A substantial lobbying entity 

23 shall file on an annual basis with the Clerk of the House 

24 of Representatives and the Secretary of the United States 

25 Senate a list of any employee, individual under contract, 


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1 or individual who provides paid consulting services who 

2 is— 

3 ‘‘(1) a former United States Senator or a 

4 former Member of the United States House of Rep5 resentatives; or 

6 ‘‘(2) a former congressional staff person who— 

7 ‘‘(A) made at least $100,000 in any 1 year 

8 as a congressional staff person; 

9 ‘‘(B) worked for a total of 4 years or more 

10 as a congressional staff person; or 

11 ‘‘(C) had a job title at any time while em12 ployed as a congressional staff person that con13 tained any of the following terms: ‘Chief of 

14 Staff’, ‘Legislative Director’, ‘Staff Director’, 

15 ‘Counsel’, ‘Professional Staff Member’, ‘Com16 munications Director’, or ‘Press Secretary’. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF FILING.—The filing required by 

18 this section shall contain a brief job description of each 

19 such employee, individual under contract, or individual 

20 who provides paid consulting services, and an explanation 

21 of their work experience under subsection (a) that requires 

22 this filing. 

23 ‘‘(c) IMPROVED REPORTING OF SUBSTANTIAL LOB24 BYING ENTITIES.—The Joint Web site being maintained 

25 by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House 


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1 of Representatives, known as lobbyists.gov, shall include 

2 an easily searchable database entitled ‘Substantial Lob3 bying Entities’ that includes qualifying employees, individ4 uals under contract, or individuals who provide paid con5 sulting services, under subsection (a). 

6 ‘‘(d) LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERSIGHT.—The Clerk 

7 of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the 

8 Senate shall provide a copy of the filings of substantial 

9 lobbying entities to the District of Columbia United States 

10 Attorney, to allow the District of Columbia United States 

11 Attorney to determine whether any such entities are 

12 underreporting the Federal lobbying activities of its em13 ployees, individuals under contract, or individuals who 

14 provide paid consulting services. 

15 ‘‘(e) SUBSTANTIAL LOBBYING ENTITY.—In this sec16 tion, the term ‘substantial lobbying entity’ means an incor17 porated entity that employs more than 3 federally reg18 istered lobbyists during a filing period.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. ENHANCED PENALTIES. 

20 Section 7(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

21 (2 U.S.C. 1606(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘$200,000’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘$500,000’’. 

Æ 


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