This bill aims to crack down on the "revolving door" between Congress and the lobbying industry—the practice where former lawmakers and congressional staff quickly become lobbyists who then use their insider connections to influence their former colleagues. The bill makes this practice significantly harder and more transparent.

Here's what changes: First, it extends the "cooling-off period" from one year to six years. This means former senators, representatives, and senior congressional staff must wait six years before they can lobby Congress, giving them much longer before they can cash in on their government connections. Second, the bill prevents lobbying firms from hiring registered lobbyists or foreign agents who have recently worked with specific members of Congress or committees—essentially blocking them from immediately going to work for the very people they were just lobbying. Third, it creates a public database called lobbyists.gov where anyone can easily search and see which former government officials are now working for lobbying firms, and which lobbying companies employ the most ex-government workers.

The bill also increases transparency requirements for large lobbying firms. Companies with more than three registered lobbyists must now publicly disclose which of their employees are former senators, representatives, or high-ranking congressional staff members like chiefs of staff or legislative directors. This information gets shared with federal prosecutors to help them catch lobbying firms that might be hiding their activities. Finally, the bill increases penalties for violating lobbying restrictions from $200,000 to $500,000, making it more costly to break the rules. The only exception is if Congress's ethics committees decide there's a compelling national need to waive these restrictions.

Close the Revolving Door Act of 2023

Tester, Jon

Close the Revolving Door Act of 2023 This bill increases restrictions on lobbying and penalties for violations of such restrictions. Specifically, the bill imposes a lifetime ban on any former Senator, Member of the House of Representatives, or elected officer of the Senate or House of Representatives from lobbying any current Member, officer, or employee of Congress, or any employee of any other legislative office. (Currently, the ban applies for two years after a Senator leaves office and for one year after a Member of the House of Representatives leaves office.) The ban is extended from one to six years for officers and employees of the Senate, personal staff of Members, committee staff, leadership staff, and other legislative offices. A registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal may not be hired for a six-year period by a Member of Congress or a congressional committee with whom they have had a substantial lobbying contact. This bill also (1) requires a substantial lobbying entity (an incorporated entity that employs more than three registered lobbyists during a filing period) to file annual lists with Congress of former Members of Congress and certain highly paid legislative branch officials who provide paid consulting services to the lobbying entity, and (2) increases the civil penalty for violations of disclosure or reporting requirements.