II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 170
To prohibit the appointment of former fossil fuel executive officers and fossil
fuel lobbyists as the heads of certain departments, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY21, 2025
Mr. M
ARKEY(for himself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To prohibit the appointment of former fossil fuel executive
officers and fossil fuel lobbyists as the heads of certain
departments, and for other purposes.
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 In Govern-4
ment Oil Industry Lobbyists from the Cabinet Act’’ or the 5
‘‘BIG OIL from the Cabinet Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7
In this Act: 8
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•S 170 IS
(1) COVERED DEPARTMENT HEAD .—The term 1
‘‘covered department head’’ means the— 2
(A) Chief of Staff to the President; 3
(B) Chief of Staff to the Vice President; 4
(C) Director of the Office of Management 5
and Budget; 6
(D) Chairman of the Council on Environ-7
mental Quality; 8
(E) Director of the Office of Science and 9
Technology Policy; 10
(F) Executive Director of the United 11
States Global Change Research Program; 12
(G) Secretary of Energy; 13
(H) Administrator of the Energy Informa-14
tion Administration; 15
(I) Administrator of the National Oceanic 16
and Atmospheric Administration; 17
(J) Administrator of the National Aero-18
nautics and Space Administration; 19
(K) Secretary of Transportation; 20
(L) Deputy Administrator of the National 21
Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 22
(M) Administrator of the Pipeline and 23
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; 24
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•S 170 IS
(N) Chairman of the Federal Energy Reg-1
ulatory Commission; 2
(O) Secretary of Agriculture; 3
(P) Secretary of the Interior; 4
(Q) Secretary of Defense; 5
(R) Administrator of the Environmental 6
Protection Agency; and 7
(S) Secretary of State. 8
(2) C
OVERED POLITICAL APPOINTEE .—The 9
term ‘‘covered political appointee’’ means a political 10
appointee, as defined in section 714(h) of title 38, 11
United States Code, at— 12
(A) the Department of the Interior; 13
(B) the Environmental Protection Agency; 14
(C) the Department of Energy; 15
(D) the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-16
mission; 17
(E) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 18
Administration; 19
(F) the Council on Environmental Quality; 20
(G) the Office of Science and Technology 21
Policy; 22
(H) the Office of Management and Budg-23
et; and 24
(I) the Department of State. 25
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•S 170 IS
(3) EXECUTIVE OFFICER.—The term ‘‘executive 1
officer’’— 2
(A) means, with respect to an enterprise— 3
(i) the president; 4
(ii) any vice president in charge of a 5
principal business unit, division, or func-6
tion, including sales, administration, or fi-7
nance; 8
(iii) any other officer who performs a 9
policy-making function; or 10
(iv) an executive officer of a sub-11
sidiary of the enterprise if the executive of-12
ficer of the subsidiary performs policy- 13
making functions for the enterprise; and 14
(B) does not include an employee of a fos-15
sil fuel entity that works in, or is in charge of, 16
a division principally responsible for the re-17
search, development, or deployment of— 18
(i) wind energy; 19
(ii) solar energy; or 20
(iii) any other renewable energy 21
source. 22
(4) F
OSSIL FUEL.—The term ‘‘fossil fuel’’ 23
means natural gas, coal, oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, or 24
jet fuel. 25
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(5) FOSSIL FUEL ENTITY .—The term ‘‘fossil 1
fuel entity’’ means an entity that is in the business 2
of extracting or producing fossil fuel. 3
(6) F
OSSIL FUEL LOBBYIST.—The term ‘‘fossil 4
fuel lobbyist’’ means a lobbyist, as defined in section 5
3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 6
1602), that is registered or is required to register 7
under section 4(a) of that Act (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)), 8
who principally lobbies— 9
(A) for not less than 1 fossil fuel entity or 10
fossil fuel trade association; and 11
(B) on issues relating to the extraction or 12
production of fossil fuels. 13
(7) F
OSSIL FUEL TRADE ASSOCIATION .—The 14
term ‘‘fossil fuel trade association’’ means a trade 15
association that principally represents one or more 16
fossil fuel entities on issues relating to the extraction 17
or production of fossil fuels. 18
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF APPOINTMENT OF FOSSIL FUEL 19
EXECUTIVES AND LOBBYISTS. 20
No individual that has served as an executive officer 21
of a fossil fuel entity, a fossil fuel lobbyist, or an executive 22
officer of a fossil fuel trade association for any period of 23
time during the 10-year period preceding the date of ap-24
pointment or service shall— 25
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•S 170 IS
(1) be appointed to serve as a covered depart-1
ment head or a covered political appointee; or 2
(2) perform the functions and duties of a cov-3
ered department head or a covered political ap-4
pointee in an acting capacity. 5
Æ
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