Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drain the Swamp Act 
of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. 5-YEAR POST-EMPLOYMENT BAN ON LOBBYING OF 
EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH BY 
ALL FORMER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. 
(a) 5-YEAR POST-EMPLOYMENT BAN ON LOBBYING 
OF EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH.— 
(1) LOBBYING BY FORMER EXECUTIVE BRANCH 
OFFICIALS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of sec-
tion 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) RESTRICTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the re-
strictions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), 
any person who is an officer or employee (in-
cluding any special Government employee) of 
the executive branch of the United States (in-
cluding an independent agency), who is referred 
to in paragraph (2), and who, within 5 years 
after the termination of his or her service or 
employment as such officer or employee, know-
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ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any 
communication to or appearance before any in-
dividual described in subparagraph (B) on be-
half of any other person (except the United 
States) in connection with any matter on which 
such other person seeks official action by such 
individual, shall be punished as provided in sec-
tion 216 of this title. 
‘‘(B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi-
vidual described in this subparagraph is any of 
the following: 
‘‘(i) An officer or employee of the ex-
ecutive branch of the United States (in-
cluding an independent agency). 
‘‘(ii) A Member of Congress. 
‘‘(iii) An elected officer of the Senate 
or an employee of the Senate. 
‘‘(iv) An elected officer of the House 
of Representatives or an employee of the 
House of Representatives. 
‘‘(v) An employee of any other legisla-
tive office of the Congress.’’. 
(B) DESCRIPTION OF FORMER EXECUTIVE 
BRANCH
OFFICIALS
SUBJECT
TO
BAN.—Sub-
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paragraph (A) of section 207(c)(2) of such title 
is amended— 
(i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 
clause (iv); 
(ii) by striking the period at the end 
of clause (v) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new clauses: 
‘‘(vi) serves in the position of Vice Presi-
dent of the United States; 
‘‘(vii) is employed in a position in the exec-
utive branch of the United States (including 
any independent agency) at a rate of pay pay-
able for level I of the Executive Schedule or em-
ployed in a position in the Executive Office of 
the President at a rate of pay payable for level 
II of the Executive Schedule; or 
‘‘(viii) is appointed by the President to a 
position under section 105(a)(2)(A) of title 3 or 
by the Vice President to a position under sec-
tion 106(a)(1)(A) of title 3.’’. 
(C) ELIMINATION
OF
SEPARATE
2-YEAR 
BAN
FOR
SENIOR
EXECUTIVE
BRANCH
OFFI-
CIALS.—Section 207 of such title is amended by 
striking subsection (d). 
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(D) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 
207 of such title is amended— 
(i) in subparagraph (A) of subsection 
(c)(2), by striking ‘‘(other than a person 
subject to the restrictions of subsection 
(d))’’; 
(ii) by amending paragraph (3) of 
subsection (c) to read as follows: 
‘‘(3) MEMBERS
OF
THE
INDEPENDENT
PAY-
MENT ADVISORY BOARD.—Paragraph (1) shall apply 
to a member of the Independent Payment Advisory 
Board under section 1899A of the Social Security 
Act.’’; 
(iii) in paragraph (9) of subsection 
(e), by striking ‘‘As used in this sub-
section’’ and inserting ‘‘As used in this 
section’’; 
(iv) in paragraph (1) of subsection (f), 
by striking ‘‘subsection (c), (d), or (e)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘subsection (c) or (e)’’; 
(v) in subparagraph (A) of subsection 
(i)(1), by striking ‘‘subsections (a), (c), 
and (d),’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) 
and (c),’’; 
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(vi) in subsection (j), by striking 
‘‘subsections (c), (d), and (e)’’ each place 
it appears in paragraph (2), subparagraph 
(A) of paragraph (7), and subparagraph 
(B)(ii) of paragraph (7); and 
(vii) in paragraph (5) of subsection 
(j), by striking ‘‘subsections (a), (c), and 
(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) and 
(c)’’. 
(2) LOBBYING BY FORMER MEMBERS AND EM-
PLOYEES OF CONGRESS AND OTHER LEGISLATIVE 
BRANCH OFFICIALS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(e) of such 
title is amended by striking paragraphs (1) 
through (6) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) RESTRICTIONS DESCRIBED.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person who is a 
covered legislative branch official and who, 
within 5 years after leaving office or the termi-
nation of his or her service or employment as 
such an official, knowingly makes, with the in-
tent to influence, any communication to or ap-
pearance before any individual described in sub-
paragraph (C) on behalf of any other person 
(except the United States) in connection with 
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any matter on which such other person seeks 
official action by such individual, shall be pun-
ished as provided in section 216 of this title. 
‘‘(B) COVERED LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF-
FICIAL DESCRIBED.—In this paragraph, a ‘cov-
ered legislative branch official’ is any of the fol-
lowing individuals: 
‘‘(i) A Member of Congress. 
‘‘(ii) An elected officer of the Senate 
or an elected officer of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
‘‘(iii) An employee of the Senate or an 
employee of the House of Representatives 
to whom paragraph (2)(A) applies. 
‘‘(iv) An employee of any other legis-
lative office of the Congress to whom para-
graph (2)(B) applies. 
‘‘(C) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi-
vidual described in this subparagraph is any of 
the following: 
‘‘(i) An officer or employee of the ex-
ecutive branch of the United States (in-
cluding an independent agency). 
‘‘(ii) A Member of Congress. 
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