[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2494 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2494

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require the President 
 to place any financial conflicts of interest into a blind trust, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2017

Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. McGovern) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require the President 
 to place any financial conflicts of interest into a blind trust, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Drain the Swamp and the President's 
Assets Act''.

SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF PRESIDENT'S FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST INTO 
              BLIND TRUST.

    (a) In General.--Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 
(Public Law 95-521) is amended by inserting after section 111 the 
following:

``SEC. 112. THE PRESIDENT: PLACEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 
              INTO BLIND TRUST.

    ``(a) In General.--Beginning on the date that is 30 days after the 
date that the President first assumes office, the President may not 
hold any asset that would otherwise be considered a disqualifying 
financial interest under section 208 of title 18, United States Code, 
if the President were subject to such section.
    ``(b) Blind Trust.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President may place any asset 
        covered by subsection (a) into a blind trust (as that term is 
        defined in section 102(f)(3)).
            ``(2) Divestiture.--Not later than 30 days after any such 
        asset is placed in a blind trust, the trustee or other entity 
        who is involved in the management or control of the blind trust 
        shall divest the blind trust of such asset.''.
    (b) Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply 
to any President assuming office on or after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

SEC. 3. VIOLATIONS.

    A violation of the amendment made by this Act shall constitute a 
high crime and misdemeanor for the purposes of article II, section 4 of 
the Constitution of the United States.
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