Protecting Our Democracy Act

Bill: 117-s-2921
Sponsor: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2021-09-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Appropriations
Budget process
Civil actions and liability
Congressional committees
Congressional oversight
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Criminal procedure and sentencing
Defense spending
Department of Justice
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Evidence and witnesses
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal officials
Federal-Indian relations
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
House of Representatives
Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information
Judicial procedure and administration
Judicial review and appeals
Labor standards
Lawyers and legal services
Legal fees and court costs
Merit Systems Protection Board
Military operations and strategy
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Special Counsel
Political parties and affiliation
Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents
Research administration and funding
Right of privacy
Scientific communication
Senate
Tariffs
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
War and emergency powers

Summary:
action_date: 2021-09-30
text: 

Protecting Our Democracy Act

 
This bill addresses issues involving (1) abuses of presidential power; (2) checks and balances, accountability, and transparency; and (3) foreign interference in elections.
 
Specifically, regarding abuses of presidential power, the bill
 
 
requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the President to submit to Congress specified materials relating to certain pardons,
 
 prohibits self-pardons by the President,
 
suspends the statute of limitations for federal offenses committed by a sitting President or Vice President,
 
prohibits the acceptance of foreign or domestic emoluments, and
 
sets forth provisions regarding Office of Government Ethics and Office of Special Counsel jurisdiction and enforcement authority.
 
 
To address checks and balances, accountability, and transparency, the bill 
 
 
authorizes specified actions to enforce congressional subpoenas,
 
imposes limits on presidential declarations of emergencies,
 
requires DOJ to maintain a log of specified communications between itself and the White House,
 
requires cause for removal of inspectors general,
 
increases whistleblower protections,
 
requires a candidate for President or Vice President to submit to the Federal Election Commission a copy of the individual's income tax returns for the 10 most recent taxable years, and
 
establishes penalties for political appointees who engage in prohibited political activities.
 
 
To protect against foreign interference in elections, the bill

 
requires federal campaign reporting of foreign contacts,
 
requires federal campaigns to establish a foreign contacts compliance policy, and 
 
specifies that foreign donations to political campaigns and candidates of nonpublic information relating to a candidate are prohibited. 
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2021-09-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2021-09-30
text: Introduced in Senate