Lawmakers look to ban foreign payments to senior feds

Top leaders in the federal government would be subject to new restrictions on accepting money from foreign governments or their proxies under a new, bicameral bill, which proponents said would ensure public officials do not put their own interests ahead of the public’s. 

The No Foreign Emoluments Without Congressional Consent Act, introduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., details the proposed prohibitions for the president, vice president, members of Congress, agency heads, top White House staff and “other senior officials.” The legislation does not detail who would fall into the latter category, instead leaving it up to the Office of Government Ethics director to make that determination. 

Anyone covered by the bill would have to receive the consent of Congress before accepting payments from foreign governments while in office and for two years after leaving. It would apply to any direct or indirect payments stemming from governments, royal families or state-controlled entities. Offenders of the new restrictions would face civil and criminal penalties and federal officials would have to include any foreign payments they receive on their annual ethics disclosures. 

The measure would make the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution enforceable, the bill’s authors said, adding the bill became necessary after President Trump’s businesses benefited from foreign governments throughout his term in office. 

“No one should be allowed to treat the presidency or any public office as a personal piggy bank,” Blumenthal said. “Our measure will hold the president, members of Congress, and other top officials accountable if they betray the public’s trust and seek to enrich themselves at the American people’s expense.”

A report from Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where Raskin serves as ranking member, earlier this year found Trump’s businesses brought in at least $7.8 million from 20 different countries while he was in office. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who served as top advisor during his presidency, started a private equity fund after leaving government that received $2 billion from the Saudi royal family. 

The measure is co-sponsored by more than a dozen Democrats on the oversight panel and won the backing of government watchdog groups such as the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Public Citizen. 

“It is unacceptable and inappropriate for the President, members of Congress and other senior officials to accept foreign payments while serving in office without transparency and congressional consent,” said Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen’s executive vice president. “This straightforward bill reaffirms the intent of the constitution and will ensure that foreign money does not corrupt American officials.”

Senior federal employees currently face restrictions on their post-government work, such as two-year bans on lobbying their former agencies. Some restrictions apply only to “senior employees,” which could include top-ranked civil servants, while others only concern “very senior employees” such as cabinet-level officials. OGE would have to determine which standard to apply to the new bill.