Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2624 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2624
5	5	To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and
6	6	elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after
7	7	leaving office, to prohibit the use of funds for official travel expenses
8	8	of Members of Congress and legislative branch employees for airline
9	9	accommodations other than coach class, to eliminate automatic pay ad-
10	10	justments for Members of Congress, and for other purposes.
11	11	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
12	12	APRIL3, 2025
13	13	Ms. C
14	14	RAIG(for herself and Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following bill;
15	15	which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in
16	16	addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Ethics, Rules, and Over-
17	17	sight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter-
18	18	mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
19	19	as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
20	20	A BILL
21	21	To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former
22	22	Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying
23	23	Congress at any time after leaving office, to prohibit
24	24	the use of funds for official travel expenses of Members
25	25	of Congress and legislative branch employees for airline
26	26	accommodations other than coach class, to eliminate
27	27	automatic pay adjustments for Members of Congress,
28	28	and for other purposes.
29	29	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
30	30	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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33	33	•HR 2624 IH
34	34	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
35	35	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halt Unchecked Mem-2
36	36	ber Benefits with Lobbying Elimination Act’’ or the 3
37	37	‘‘HUMBLE Act’’. 4
38	38	SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS 5
39	39	OF CONGRESS FROM LOBBYING CONGRESS. 6
40	40	(a) P
41	41	ROHIBITION.—Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, 7
42	42	United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 8
43	43	‘‘(1) M
44	44	EMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICERS OF 9
45	45	CONGRESS.—Any person who is a Senator, a Mem-10
46	46	ber of the House of Representatives, or an elected 11
47	47	officer of the Senate or the House of Representa-12
48	48	tives and who, after that person leaves office, know-13
49	49	ingly makes, with the intent to influence, any com-14
50	50	munication to or appearance before any Member, of-15
51	51	ficer, or employee of either House of Congress or 16
52	52	any employee of any other legislative office of the 17
53	53	Congress, on behalf of any other person (except the 18
54	54	United States) in connection with any matter on 19
55	55	which such former Senator, Member, or elected offi-20
56	56	cial seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee 21
57	57	of either House of Congress, in his or her official ca-22
58	58	pacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 23
59	59	of this title.’’. 24
60	60	(b) C
61	61	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 207(e)(2) 25
62	62	of such title is amended— 26
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65	65	•HR 2624 IH
66	66	(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘OFFICERS AND 1
67	67	STAFF’’ and inserting ‘‘STAFF’’; 2
68	68	(2) by striking ‘‘an elected officer of the Senate, 3
69	69	or’’; 4
70	70	(3) by striking ‘‘leaves office or employment’’ 5
71	71	and inserting ‘‘leaves employment’’; and 6
72	72	(4) by striking ‘‘former elected officer or’’. 7
73	73	(c) E
74	74	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 8
75	75	this section shall apply with respect to an individual who 9
76	76	leaves office on or after the date of the enactment of this 10
77	77	Act. 11
78	78	SEC. 3. PROHIBITING USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL TRAV-12
79	79	EL EXPENSES OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 13
80	80	AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES FOR 14
81	81	AIRLINE ACCOMMODATIONS OTHER THAN 15
82	82	COACH CLASS. 16
83	83	(a) P
84	84	ROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsection 17
85	85	(b), no funds appropriated or otherwise made available for 18
86	86	the official travel expenses of a Member of Congress or 19
87	87	other officer or employee of any office in the legislative 20
88	88	branch may be used for airline accommodations which are 21
89	89	not coach-class accommodations. 22
90	90	(b) E
91	91	XCEPTIONS.—Funds described in subsection (a) 23
92	92	may be used for airline accommodations which are not 24
93	93	coach-class accommodations for an individual described in 25
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96	96	•HR 2624 IH
97	97	subsection (a) if the use of the funds for such accommoda-1
98	98	tions would be permitted under sections 301–10.121 2
99	99	through 301–10.125 of title 41 of the Code of Federal 3
100	100	Regulations if the individual were an employee of an agen-4
101	101	cy which is subject to chapter 301 of such title. 5
102	102	(c) R
103	103	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 6
104	104	may be construed to affect any officer or employee of an 7
105	105	office of the legislative branch which, as of the date of 8
106	106	the enactment of this Act, is subject to chapter 301 of 9
107	107	title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 10
108	108	(d) D
109	109	EFINITIONS.— 11
110	110	(1) C
111	111	OACH-CLASS ACCOMMODATIONS .—In this 12
112	112	Act, the term ‘‘coach-class accommodations’’ means 13
113	113	the basic class of accommodation by airlines that is 14
114	114	normally the lowest fare offered regardless of airline 15
115	115	terminology used, and (as referred to by airlines) 16
116	116	may include tourist class or economy class, as well 17
117	117	as single class when the airline offers only one class 18
118	118	of accommodations to all travelers. 19
119	119	(2) M
120	120	EMBER OF CONGRESS .—In this Act, the 20
121	121	term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means a Senator or a 21
122	122	Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis-22
123	123	sioner to, the Congress. 23
124	124	(e) E
125	125	FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall apply with 24
126	126	respect to fiscal year 2026 and each succeeding fiscal year. 25
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129	129	•HR 2624 IH
130	130	SEC. 4. BENEFITS AND SERVICES PROVIDED TO FORMER 1
131	131	MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-2
132	132	TIVES. 3
133	133	(a) B
134	134	ENEFITS AND SERVICESDESCRIBED.—The 4
135	135	House of Representatives may not make any of the fol-5
136	136	lowing benefits and services available to an individual who 6
137	137	becomes a former Member of the House (except to the 7
138	138	extent such benefits and services are made available to 8
139	139	members of the public): 9
140	140	(1) Access to the Hall of the House. 10
141	141	(2) Access to athletic facilities and other facili-11
142	142	ties available for the use of Members of the House. 12
143	143	(3) Access to the Members’ Dining Room lo-13
144	144	cated in the House of Representatives wing of the 14
145	145	United States Capitol. 15
146	146	(4) Access to parking spaces. 16
147	147	(5) Access to material from the House docu-17
148	148	ment room. 18
149	149	(6) Use of the collections in the House Legisla-19
150	150	tive Resource Center without borrowing privileges. 20
151	151	(b) W
152	152	AIVERAUTHORITY.— 21
153	153	(1) A
154	154	UTHORITY TO WAIVE ELIMINATION OF 22
155	155	BENEFIT OR SERVICE.—The Speaker and the minor-23
156	156	ity leader of the House of Representatives may joint-24
157	157	ly, on a case-by-case basis, grant a waiver of sub-25
158	158	section (a) with respect to a former Member of the 26
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161	161	•HR 2624 IH
162	162	House and a benefit or service described in such 1
163	163	subsection. 2
164	164	(2) P
165	165	UBLICATION IN CONGRESSIONAL 3
166	166	RECORD.—If the Speaker and the minority leader 4
167	167	jointly grant a waiver under paragraph (1) to make 5
168	168	a benefit or service available to a former Member, 6
169	169	the Speaker and minority leader shall, not later than 7
170	170	24 hours after the waiver is granted, cause to have 8
171	171	published in the Congressional Record a statement 9
172	172	identifying the former Member and the benefit or 10
173	173	service involved. 11
174	174	SEC. 5. PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENT-12
175	175	ATIVES FROM OWNING INDIVIDUAL STOCKS. 13
176	176	(a) I
177	177	NGENERAL.—Rule XXIII of the Rules of the 14
178	178	House of Representatives is amended— 15
179	179	(1) by redesignating clause 22 as clause 23; 16
180	180	and 17
181	181	(2) by inserting after clause 21 the following: 18
182	182	‘‘22. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 19
183	183	may not own the common stock of any individual corpora-20
184	184	tion.’’. 21
185	185	(b) E
186	186	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 22
187	187	subsection (a) shall take effect immediately before noon 23
188	188	on January 3, 2027. 24
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191	191	•HR 2624 IH
192	192	SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF AUTOMATIC PAY ADJUSTMENTS 1
193	193	FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 2
194	194	(a) I
195	195	NGENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 601(a) 3
196	196	of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4
197	197	4501(2)) is repealed. 5
198	198	(b) C
199	199	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 601(a)(1) 6
200	200	of such Act (2 U.S.C. 4501) is amended— 7
201	201	(1) by striking ‘‘(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)’’; 8
202	202	(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), 9
203	203	and (C) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively; 10
204	204	and 11
205	205	(3) by striking ‘‘, as adjusted by paragraph (2) 12
206	206	of this subsection’’. 13
207	207	(c) E
208	208	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 14
209	209	this section shall apply with respect to pay periods begin-15
210	210	ning after the first general election for Federal office oc-16
211	211	curring after the date of the enactment of this Act. 17
212	212	SEC. 7. PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REP-18
213	213	RESENTATIVES FROM SERVING ON BOARDS 19
214	214	OF FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES. 20
215	215	Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representa-21
216	216	tives, as amended by section 5(a), is amended— 22
217	217	(1) by redesignating clauses 19 through 23 as 23
218	218	clauses 20 through 24, respectively; and 24
219	219	(2) by inserting after clause 18 the following 25
220	220	new clause: 26
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223	223	•HR 2624 IH
224	224	‘‘19. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 1
225	225	may not serve on the board of directors of any for-profit 2
226	226	entity.’’. 3
227	227	Æ
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