Sponsors (8)
The bill tightens revolving‑door rules and centralizes lobbying disclosures to boost transparency and enforcement at the cost of narrowing post‑government employment options, raising compliance burdens, and creating privacy and penalty risks that could chill some advocacy.
All Americans (taxpayers and the public) gain reduced special‑interest access to lawmakers because bans on former Members and senior staff working as lobbyists shorten the revolving door and limit immediate post‑government lobbying.
Law enforcement and oversight actors (DOJ, congressional ethics offices, journalists, and watchdogs) get clearer statutory tools—criminal and civil penalties and mandated disclosures—to detect, investigate, and prosecute improper post‑government lobbying.
The public and reporters gain easier, consolidated access to lobbying disclosures via a single searchable site and API, improving transparency about who lobbies Congress and which former officials work for lobbying firms.
Former Members and congressional staff lose near‑term and some long‑term employment and earnings opportunities because of broad and multi‑year (and for some activities lifetime) bans on representing clients before Congress and working as lobbyists.
The bill will impose ongoing compliance, investigatory, and administrative costs on DOJ, congressional offices (Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House), and enforcement bodies to track, review, and litigate restrictions and disclosures.
The explicit $500,000 civil penalty for knowing LDA violations creates substantial financial risk for individuals and small organizations and could chill participation or lead to defensive under‑reporting out of fear of severe sanctions.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Tightens post‑employment lobbying bans for former Members and staff, bars hiring of recent lobbyists/foreign agents by Members/committees when substantial prior contact exists, creates lobbyists.gov, and raises certain LDA penalties to $500,000.
Official title: To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door lobbying.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress May 21, 2025
Closes loopholes in post‑Congressional employment by imposing a lifetime criminal ban on former Members and elected officers from lobbying congressional offices with intent to influence, lengthens cooling‑off periods for many former staff to six years, and bans certain recent lobbyists and agents of foreign principals from being hired by Members or committees for six years when they had substantial prior lobbying contact. It also requires a joint, searchable public lobbying website (lobbyists.gov), mandates additional annual disclosure by large lobbying firms about employed former legislators and senior congressional staff, and raises a civil penalty under the Lobbying Disclosure Act to $500,000.