Reform No. 06

Extend the Lobbying Cool-Off Period

Lengthen the post-employment lobbying ban on former members of Congress from one or two years to at least five.

of Congress documented cosponsoring this reform

11 of 536 members

CongressVoters

Democrats

4%67%

Republicans

0%65%

Independents

0%—

Voter figures: U. of Maryland PPC, June 2022. A dash means the survey did not break out that group.

Vehicle in the 119th Congress

Related bills not counted

No Corruption in Government Act
House ·HR 358
Extends the post-employment lobbying ban from one year to three years for former House members and from two years to six years for former senators. The three-year House provision falls short of the reform's five-year minimum.

Also crediting cosponsors of prior versions

What it does

Current law requires former House members to wait one year and former senators two years before lobbying their colleagues. This reform would extend that wait to at least five years for members of Congress and senior congressional staff.

The Public Service Integrity Act (House) and Cleaning up Washington Act (Senate) carried this proposal in earlier Congresses. Newer bills, the Close the Revolving Door Act and the BLAST Act, propose a permanent lifetime ban instead, which goes further than the public has endorsed.

How members will be scored

Recorded as supporting if they are a cosponsor of any pending bill that extends the cool-off period to five or more years, or of a lifetime ban that supersedes it.

Where Congress stands.

How this is scored

A member counts as Supports if they sponsored or cosponsored Close the Revolving Door Act of 2025 (H.R. 3554), or one of five bills that carry it, signed a discharge petition to force one to a floor vote, or cosponsored a matching bill in an earlier Congress while still serving today. Everyone else is Unknown: no documented signal, which is not the same as opposition. Floor votes aren't scored, so nobody is marked Opposes.

These bills are carried almost entirely by Democrats, so the share supporting reflects cosponsorship of these specific bills, not agreement with the reform itself. A Republican at zero usually means they haven't cosponsored this vehicle, not that they oppose the reform.

Which bills count

Close the Revolving Door Act of 2025 (H.R. 3554)
Close the Revolving Door Act of 2025 (S. 1850)
BLAST Act (S. 4524)
Public Service Integrity Act (H.R. 414) (prior Congress)
Cleaning Up Washington's Act (S. 751) (prior Congress)

Full methodology →

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Download the gap between what voters want and what Congress has signed. Generated from today's cosponsorship data, with the poll and the source on the card, so it stands on its own wherever it lands.

HorizontalVoters versus Congress, by party

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