[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DRAIN THE SWAMP

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation, the 
Drain the Swamp Act. My bill would make violations of President-elect 
Trump's recently announced revolving door lobby ban punishable by law. 
He said that he will bar political appointees from lobbying for 5 years 
after they serve in his administration and permanently from lobbying 
for foreign governments.
  Unfortunately, his proposal lacks any enforcement mechanism. I want 
this to be more than a press release. I want to help him in this 
effort. Just look at the Office of Special Trade Representative. Why is 
our trade policy so bad? Because those people worked for industry and 
then come back to work for the government and go work for industry and 
promote their own interests. That goes on in many agencies.
  This would be a good thing for America.
  So I would extend the existing penalties which apply to very few 
people over a shorter period of time with penalties up to $50,000 and 1 
year in jail to cover all of the 3,648 executive branch political 
appointees.
  I am introducing it today knowing it is the end of the Congress, but 
I am going to provide it to the Trump transition team in the hope that 
they will endorse this bill, which I will introduce on the first day of 
the next Congress and hope to have President-elect Trump's support to 
keep the law behind his promise.

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