Sponsors (4)
Official title: Establish the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 30, 2026 by Charles Ellis Schumer · Last progress July 30, 2026
The bill centralizes and strengthens federal anti‑corruption enforcement—with new powers, funding, and remedies aimed at recovering ill‑gotten funds and improving oversight—while concentrating authority, raising costs and civil‑liberty risks, and creating transition and politicization concerns.
Taxpayers, voters, and federal ethics oversight benefit from creating a single, independent Anti‑Corruption Bureau that consolidates enforcement of campaign‑finance, ethics, and related laws, improving coordination and speeding investigations.
Taxpayers and victims can recover money pilfered through corruption because new civil remedies, disgorgement, treble damages, and enforcement powers are designed to return ill‑gotten funds to the Treasury and injured parties.
Private parties (including state attorneys general) and career staff have backstops to enforce the law — a private right of action plus empowered nonpartisan career investigators — which increases the likelihood that corruption claims will be heard even if the Bureau initially declines.
Federal employees, political actors, and the public face a heightened risk that concentrating broad investigative and enforcement authority in one centralized Bureau will enable politicized or partisan enforcement.
Taxpayers will face higher federal costs because the bill creates a new agency, funds senior Executive Schedule positions, and creates ongoing administrative commitments (with uncertain Fund financing).
Businesses, named individuals, and small defendants face more and costlier litigation — expanded private suits, sealed filings, and broad findings can impose legal fees, reputational harm, and market chilling effects (and paying private plaintiffs reduces net recovery to the Treasury).
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates an independent Anti‑Corruption Bureau with broad civil enforcement over campaign finance, federal ethics, conflicts of interest, replaces OGE/FEC/OSC references, and funds it via a new Treasury account.
Creates a new independent Anti‑Corruption Bureau with seven presidentially appointed, Senate‑confirmed members and broad civil enforcement authority over federal campaign finance, government ethics, conflicts of interest, financial disclosure, and whistleblower protections. The bill renames and replaces many references to existing oversight entities (Office of Government Ethics, Office of Special Counsel, Federal Election Commission) with the new Bureau, authorizes a dedicated Treasury fund to support it, and sets procedures for appointments, investigations, rulemaking, and litigation. The Bureau may bring civil actions (including in the name of the United States), recover proceeds for victims and taxpayers, issue advisory opinions, promulgate rules, and refer criminal matters to law enforcement. The bill also creates a standing three‑judge D.C. Circuit division to appoint temporary Bureau members if nominations are not timely and requires implementing rules within 180 days, with Fund support beginning in FY2027.