Impose a Ten-Year Lobbying Ban on Former White House Staff

Federal post-employment law currently imposes a one-year cooling-off period on senior executive branch officials, a two-year period on the most senior, and a one- or two-year period on members of Congress depending on chamber. The Lobbying Disclosure Act defines a “lobbyist” using a twenty-percent-of-time threshold and a more-than-one-contact requirement; unregistered consulting, retained-counsel arrangements, and paid board service fall below those thresholds. Public Citizen reported in 2019 that fifty-nine percent of former members of the 115th Congress who took private-sector jobs went into lobbying, consulting, or trade-association work. The 18 U.S.C. § 207 cooling-off periods and the Lobbying Disclosure Act thresholds have not been amended to cover that work.

What current law does

The principal statutory restriction is 18 U.S.C. § 207. Subsection (a) imposes a lifetime ban on representing a private party in any “particular matter involving specific parties” the official worked on personally and substantially. Subsection (c) imposes a one-year cooling-off period on senior executive branch officials communicating with their former agency. Subsection (d) imposes a two-year cooling-off period on “very senior” officials, defined as positions paid at Executive Schedule Level I, the Vice President, and certain other presidential appointees. Subsection (e) covers members of Congress and staff: two years for Senators, one year for Representatives, and one year for senior staff.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) defines “lobbyist” using a 20-percent-of-time threshold and requires the activity include more than one direct lobbying contact. Strategic consulting, public-affairs advocacy, board memberships at firms with regulatory exposure, and retained-counsel arrangements that fall below the threshold are not covered. Executive Order 13989, issued in 2021, extended the appointee revolving-door restriction from one to two years and added a prohibition on participating in matters connected to former employers and lobbying clients. The order was revoked by executive action on January 20, 2025.

The statute

Post-employment ethics rules adopted by executive order have a documented record of revocation by successor administrations. EO 12834 (1993) was revoked in 2001. EO 13490 (2009) was revoked in 2017. EO 13770 (2017) was revoked in 2021. EO 13989 (2021) was revoked on January 20, 2025. Each revocation was effected by executive action without congressional involvement. Extension of the cooling-off period beyond a single administration requires statutory enactment.

A ten-year statutory ban, enacted as an amendment to 18 U.S.C. § 207 and the Lobbying Disclosure Act, would include:

• A ten-year prohibition on compensated influence activity directed at the federal government by all commissioned officers of the White House, all Executive Office of the President personnel at GS-15 and above, all Senate-confirmed political appointees in the executive branch, and all senior career officials who held decision authority over an industry, contract, or rulemaking in their final five years of federal service.
• Expansion of the covered definition of influence activity beyond the Lobbying Disclosure Act’s “lobbying contact” to include strategic consulting, retained-counsel arrangements with regulated industries, paid board service at firms with active regulatory matters, and public-affairs advocacy directed at any agency or congressional committee within the official’s prior jurisdiction.
• Removal of the 20-percent-of-time and “more than one contact” thresholds for the covered population.
• A statutory civil penalty equal to three times the compensation received for any prohibited activity, in addition to the existing criminal penalty under 18 U.S.C. § 216 of up to five years and $50,000 per violation.
• Appropriations for the Office of Government Ethics sufficient to staff dedicated post-employment investigators, with authority to subpoena financial records and to refer matters for civil enforcement by the Department of Justice.
• Same-day public posting of every post-employment notice and divestiture filing on a single federal database, with searchable fields for prior position, current employer, and matter.

Precedent

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-81) extended the Senate cooling-off period from one to two years and is the most recent congressional precedent for lengthening post-employment restrictions by statute. Successive executive orders since 1993 (EO 12834, EO 13490, EO 13770, and EO 13989) extended the appointee cooling-off period to two years and added shadow-lobbying restrictions. Each was revoked by the next administration of the opposing party.

Comparative jurisdictions impose multi-year restrictions through standing rules. The United Kingdom’s Business Appointment Rules require a two-year prohibition on lobbying by former ministers, administered as of October 2025 by the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. The European Union imposes a two-year cooling-off period on former Commissioners and a three-year period on the former Commission President, restricting lobbying directed at the Commission within the former portfolio. Public Citizen’s 2019 survey of the 115th Congress reported that fifty-nine percent of former members who took private-sector jobs went into lobbying, consulting, or trade-association work. A separate 2016 study reported that twenty-five percent of departing House members and twenty-nine percent of departing Senators between 1976 and 2012 registered as lobbyists, with the share rising over time.

First 100 days

Day one. The administration revokes any executive order narrowing the post-employment restrictions, reinstates the EO 13989 framework as an interim measure, and directs the Office of Government Ethics to publish a public registry of every post-employment filing received in the prior eight years.

Day thirty. The Department of Justice opens preliminary inquiries into post-employment activities by senior officials of the prior administration that fall within the existing 18 U.S.C. § 207 prohibition. The Office of Government Ethics issues guidance interpreting the existing definition of “particular matter” to cover strategic consulting and retained-counsel arrangements where the former official’s prior agency is a target of the work.

Day ninety. The President signs the ten-year lobbying ban into law as an amendment to 18 U.S.C. § 207 and the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Companion appropriations fund the Office of Government Ethics’s expanded enforcement capacity. A directive to all agency ethics officers requires same-day public posting of every post-employment filing received from a covered official.

Effect of the prohibition

A ten-year prohibition applies during the official’s federal service as a future restriction on compensated influence work, including unregistered consulting and advisory work. The covered population is White House staff, senior Executive Office of the President personnel, Senate-confirmed appointees, and senior career officials with industry-facing decision authority over an industry, contract, or rulemaking in their final five years of federal service.

Statutory enactment ends the cycle of executive-order extension and rescission documented since 1993. Expanded coverage applies to unregistered influence work that falls below the Lobbying Disclosure Act’s twenty-percent-of-time and one-contact thresholds. Appropriations to the Office of Government Ethics fund investigative staff and subpoena authority for post-employment enforcement. Civil penalties equal to three times the compensation received for prohibited activity supplement the criminal penalty under 18 U.S.C. § 216.