Serve the People, Not the Swamp Act
Bill: H.R.753 | Sponsor: Rep. Gallagher, Mike (R-WI)
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
Serve the People, Not the Swamp Act
This bill establishes requirements for Members of Congress related to consideration of appropriations bills, lobbying activities, and retirement benefits.
Specifically, the bill prohibits (1) the House of Representatives from adjourning for more than three calendar days in August until it has approved annual appropriations bills for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of that year, and (2) Congress from adjourning for more than three calendar days between October 1 and the end of the congressional session until the annual appropriations bills are presented to the President.
Neither chamber may recess or stand adjourned longer than 24 hours during any calendar year until Congress has agreed to a budget resolution for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of such year that projects a balanced budget by the last fiscal year covered by the resolution.
The bill establishes a five-year ban on (1) individuals appointed to executive schedule positions from engaging in lobbying activities in the executive branch, and (2) lobbying activities by Members of Congress.
The Office of Government Ethics may waive lobbying restrictions for certain employees if it determines that the restrictions would create an undue hardship in obtaining qualified personnel for agency positions and granting such waiver would not create the potential for undue influence or unfair advantage.
The bill excludes future Members of Congress from the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and requires Members currently enrolled in FERS to opt in to continue their enrollment.

To prohibit congressional recesses until Congress adopts a concurrent 
 resolution on the budget that results in a balanced Federal budget by 
the last fiscal year covered by such resolution, to establish a 5-year 
   ban on individuals appointed to Executive Schedule positions and 
  Members of Congress engaging in lobbying activities at the Federal 
 level, to provide for the termination of further retirement coverage 
for Members of Congress under the Federal Employees Retirement System, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Serve the People, Not the Swamp 
Act''.

SEC. 2. HOUSE AND SENATE APPROVAL OF REGULAR APPROPRIATION BILLS.

    Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(g) House and Senate Approval of Regular Appropriation Bills.--
            ``(1) Point of order in the house of representatives 
        against adjourning in august until house passage of all 
        appropriation bills.--It shall not be in order in the House of 
        Representatives to consider any resolution providing for an 
        adjournment period of more than three calendar days during the 
        month of August until the House of Representatives has approved 
        annual appropriation bills providing new budget authority under 
        the jurisdiction of all the subcommittees of the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives for the fiscal 
        year beginning on October 1 of such year.
            ``(2) Points of order in the house of representatives and 
        senate against adjourning until house and senate passage of all 
        appropriation bills.--Beginning on October 1 of a session of 
        Congress and during the duration of that session, it shall not 
        be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to 
        consider any resolution providing for an adjournment period of 
        more than three calendar days for the duration of that session 
        until the annual appropriation bills providing new budget 
        authority under the jurisdiction of all the subcommittees of 
        the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate for the fiscal year beginning on 
        October 1 of such year have been presented to the President 
        under section 7 of article I of the Constitution.
    ``(h) No Congressional Recesses.--Neither the Senate nor the House 
of Representatives may recess or stand adjourned for a period of longer 
than 24 hours during any calendar year unless and until Congress has 
agreed to a concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year 
beginning on October 1 of that calendar year which concurrent 
resolution projects a balanced budget for the Government by the last 
fiscal year covered by that concurrent resolution.''.

SEC. 3. 5-YEAR BAN ON LOBBYING BY INDIVIDUALS APPOINTED TO EXECUTIVE 
              SCHEDULE POSITIONS AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Individuals Appointed to Executive Schedule Positions.--
            (1) In general.--Section 207(d) of title 18, United States 
        Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(d) Restrictions on Very Senior Personnel of the Executive Branch 
and Independent Agencies.--
            ``(1) Vice president.--
                    ``(A) Restrictions.--In addition to the 
                restrictions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), any 
                person who serves in the position of Vice President of 
                the United States and who, within 2 years after the 
                termination of that person's service in that position, 
                knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any 
                communication to or appearance before any person 
                described in subparagraph (B), on behalf of any other 
                person (except the United States), in connection with 
                any matter on which such person seeks official action 
                by any officer or employee of the executive branch of 
                the United States, shall be punished as provided in 
                section 216 of this title.
                    ``(B) Persons who may not be contacted.--A person 
                described in this subparagraph is--
                            ``(i) any officer or employee of any 
                        department or agency in which the Vice 
                        President served within a period of 1 year 
                        before the Vice President's service or 
                        employment with the United States Government 
                        terminated; and
                            ``(ii) any person appointed to a position 
                        in the executive branch which is listed in 
                        section 5312, 5313, 5314, 5315, or 5316 of 
                        title 5.
            ``(2) Five-year restriction on individuals in executive 
        schedule and equivalent positions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraphs (B) and (C), and in addition to the 
                restrictions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), any 
                individual employed in a position in the executive 
                branch for which the rate of pay is the rate of pay 
                payable for any level of the Executive Schedule under 
                subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 5 who, within 5 
                years after the termination of his or her service or 
                employment in such position, knowingly makes, with the 
                intent to influence, any communication to or appearance 
                before any officer or employee of any department or 
                agency in the executive branch, on behalf of any other 
                person (except the United States), in connection with 
                any matter on which such person seeks official action 
                by any officer or employee of such department or 
                agency, shall be punished as provided in section 216 of 
                this title.
                    ``(B) Special government employees.--Subparagraph 
                (A) shall not apply to a special Government employee 
                who serves less than 60 days in the 1-year period 
                before his or her service or employment as such 
                employee terminates.
                    ``(C) Waiver.--
                            ``(i) Authority.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), at the request of a department or 
                        agency, the Director of the Office of 
                        Government Ethics may waive the restrictions 
                        under subparagraph (A) with respect to a 
                        position, or a category of positions, if the 
                        Director determines that--
                                    ``(I) the imposition of the 
                                restrictions with respect to the 
                                position, or category of positions, 
                                would create an undue hardship on the 
                                department or agency in obtaining 
                                qualified personnel to fill the 
                                position, or category of positions; and
                                    ``(II) granting the waiver would 
                                not create the potential for use of 
                                undue influence or unfair advantage.
                            ``(ii) Excluded positions.--The Director of 
                        the Office of Government Ethics may not waive 
                        the restrictions under subparagraph (A) with 
                        respect to--
                                    ``(I) a position in the executive 
                                branch (including any independent 
                                agency) for which the rate of pay is 
                                the rate of pay payable for level I of 
                                the Executive Schedule; or
                                    ``(II) a position in the Executive 
                                Office of the President for which the 
                                rate of pay is the rate of pay for 
                                level II of the Executive Schedule.''.
            (2) Technical and conforming amendments.--Section 207 of 
        title 18, United States Code, is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (c)(2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) by striking clauses (i) and 
                                (iii);
                                    (II) by redesignating clauses (ii), 
                                (iv), and (v) as clauses (i), (ii), and 
                                (iii), respectively; and
                                    (III) in clause (i), as so 
                                redesignated--
                                            (aa) by striking ``which is 
                                        not referred to in clause (i)'' 
                                        the first place it appears and 
                                        inserting ``for which the rate 
                                        of pay is not specified in or 
                                        fixed according to subchapter 
                                        II of chapter 53 of title 5''; 
                                        and
                                            (bb) by striking ``, or, 
                                        for a period of 2 years'' and 
                                        all that follows through the 
                                        end of clause (i) and inserting 
                                        a comma; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), in the matter 
                        preceding clause (i), by striking ``clause (ii) 
                        or (iv)'' and inserting ``clause (i) or (ii)''; 
                        and
                    (B) in subsection (h)(2), by striking the second 
                sentence.
    (b) Members of Congress.--Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``2 years'' and 
        inserting ``5 years''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ``Any person who is 
        a Member of the House of Representatives or an elected officer 
        of the House of Representatives and who, within 1 year after 
        that person leaves office,'' and inserting ``Any person who is 
        a Member of the House of Representatives and who, within 5 
        years after that person leaves office, or any person who is an 
        elected officer of the House of Representatives and who, within 
        1 year after that person leaves office,''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply 
with respect to any individual who, on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, leaves a position to which section 207 of title 
18, United States Code, applies (as amended by this Act).

SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF RETIREMENT COVERAGE OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS UNDER 
              FEDERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 84 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 8425 the following:
``Sec. 8425a. Termination of further retirement coverage of Members of 
              Congress
    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
chapter, effective as of the date of enactment of this section--
            ``(1) subject to subsection (f), in the case of an 
        individual who first becomes a Member before such date of 
        enactment--
                    ``(A) such Member shall not be subject to this 
                chapter for any further period of time after such date 
                of enactment; and
                    ``(B) no further Government contributions or 
                deductions from basic pay may be made with respect to 
                such Member for deposit in the Treasury of the United 
                States to the credit of the Fund; and
            ``(2) in the case of an individual who first becomes a 
        Member on or after such date of enactment--
                    ``(A) such Member shall not be subject to this 
                chapter; and
                    ``(B) no Government contributions or deductions 
                from basic pay may be made with respect to such Member 
                for deposit in the Treasury of the United States to the 
                credit of the Fund.
    ``(b) Prior Rights Not Affected.--Nothing in subsection (a) shall 
be considered to nullify, modify, or otherwise affect any right, 
entitlement, or benefit under this chapter with respect to any Member 
covering any period prior to the date of enactment of this section.
    ``(c) Right To Participate in Thrift Savings Plan Not Affected.--
Nothing in subsection (a) or (b) shall affect the eligibility of a 
Member to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan in accordance with 
otherwise applicable provisions of law.
    ``(d) Regulations.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any regulations necessary to carry out 
        this section may--
                    ``(A) except with respect to matters under 
                subparagraph (B), be prescribed by the Director of the 
                Office of Personnel Management; and
                    ``(B) with respect to matters relating to the 
                Thrift Savings Plan, be prescribed by the Executive 
                Director (as defined by section 8401(13)).
            ``(2) Refunds.--Notwithstanding subsection (b), the 
        regulations under paragraph (1)(A) shall, in the case of a 
        Member who has not completed at least 5 years of civilian 
        service as of the date of enactment of this section, provide 
        that the lump-sum credit shall be payable to such Member to the 
        same extent and in the same manner as if such Member satisfied 
        paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 8424(a) as of such date 
        of enactment.
    ``(e) Exclusions.--For purposes of this section, the term `Member' 
does not include the Vice President.
    ``(f) Opt-In for Members.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, a Member covered by this chapter as of such 
date may elect, by giving notice in writing to the official by whom 
such Member is paid, to remain subject to this chapter.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 8425 the following:

``8425a. Termination of further retirement coverage of Members of 
                            Congress.''.
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