This bill would make official federal law what presidents have been doing through executive orders—requiring political appointees in the executive branch to sign ethics pledges before taking office. Essentially, it locks in rules that prevent people in government from using their positions for personal financial gain, both while they're working and after they leave.

The main restrictions include a five-year ban on lobbying your former agency after you leave government (meaning if you worked at the EPA, you can't immediately go work for a company trying to influence the EPA). The bill also prevents appointees from accepting special payments or benefits from their previous employers that are tied to their government job—what's sometimes called a "golden parachute." This is meant to stop situations where a company essentially pays someone to take a government position that benefits that company.

Right now, these rules only exist because presidents have issued executive orders, which can be changed or reversed by the next president. By turning this into actual law, Congress would make these ethics requirements permanent and harder to undo. This affects anyone appointed to significant positions in federal agencies and is designed to reduce conflicts of interest and corruption in government.

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require Federal political appointees to sign a binding ethics pledge, and for other purposes.

Gallagher, Mike

This bill provides statutory authority for provisions of the executive order titled Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees, which was issued on January 28, 2017, and was revoked on January 20, 2021, by President Donald J. Trump. The order required political appointees in the executive branch to sign an ethics pledge that restricted lobbying and related activities during and after government employment, including a prohibition on appointees lobbying their former agencies for five years post-employment. On January 20, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. issued a new executive order titled Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, which requires appointees to sign an ethics pledge with both similar and different provisions. Among other differences, the order's pledge restricts appointees from accepting cash payments or non-cash benefits from former employers that are contingent on government employment (also known as golden parachutes).