II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 88
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and
elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after
leaving office.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY25, 2023
Mr. B
RAUN(for himself and Mr. SCOTTof Florida) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former
Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying
Congress at any time after leaving office.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Banning Lobbying And 4
Safeguarding Trust Act’’ or the ‘‘BLAST Act’’. 5
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•S 88 IS
SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS 1
OF CONGRESS FROM LOBBYING CONGRESS. 2
(a) P
ROHIBITION.—Section 207(e) of title 18, United 3
States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (1) and 4
inserting the following: 5
‘‘(1) M
EMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF 6
CONGRESS.—Any person who is a Senator, a Mem-7
ber of the House of Representatives, or an elected 8
officer of the Senate or the House of Representa-9
tives and who, after that person leaves office, know-10
ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any com-11
munication to or appearance before any Member, of-12
ficer, or employee of either House of Congress or 13
any employee of any other legislative office of Con-14
gress, on behalf of any other person (except the 15
United States) in connection with any matter on 16
which the former Senator, Member, or elected offi-17
cial seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee 18
of either House of Congress, in his or her official ca-19
pacity, shall be punished as provided in section 20
216.’’. 21
(b) T
ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 22
Section 207(e)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is 23
amended— 24
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘O
FFICERS AND 25
STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 26
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•S 88 IS
(2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 1
or’’; 2
(3) by striking ‘‘office or’’; and 3
(4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 4
(c) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 5
section shall apply with respect to an individual who leaves 6
office on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 7
Æ
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