The "Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act" has been reintroduced in Congress by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md). First introduced in 2015, the measure is intended to "slow the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington."
The press release announcing their bill stated, "Recently, many of President Trump’s nominees have been found to have troubling conflicts of interest and golden parachute payouts."
Baldwin said, "When Wall Street insiders and corporate executives move through the revolving door from the private sector to public service, they should not be rewarded with golden parachutes simply for joining the Trump Administration."
"Our bill is critical to ensuring that federal employees are working for the American people—not for Wall Street investors," said Cummings. "President Trump’s administration is filled with Wall Street executives who are lining their pockets with hefty payouts from their previous employers."
The measure would:
- outlaw bonuses from former private sector employers for entering government service;
- expand the cooling-off period from one to two years between working for, and lobbying, the federal government;
- increase from one year to two years the current prohibition on federal examiners from accepting employment with any financial institutions they oversaw; and
- reduce conflicts of interest by requiring senior financial service regulators to recuse themselves from any official actions that directly or substantially benefit the former employers or clients for whom they worked in the previous two years before joining federal service.
A summary of the proposed legislation notes that it is supported by the American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Effective Government, Common Cause, Consumer Action, Government Accountability Project, Greenpeace, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, James A. Thurber, Public Citizen, RootStrikers, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG).
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