H.R. 9222 — Drain the Swamp Act

This section prohibits Members of Congress, the President, Vice President, Supreme Court justices, and their spouses and dependent children from owning or trading covered investments, including securities, commodities (as defined in 7 U.S.C. 1a, excluding precious metals), futures, and synthetic equivalents. It requires divestiture at fair market value within 180 days of enactment for individuals covered on that date and within 90 days for those who become covered later, while excluding diversified publicly traded funds, Treasury and municipal securities, and certain small business and real estate interests.

This section reduces the annual pay of each Member of Congress by one day's salary for every 24-hour period the public debt limit is reached. It withholds equivalent amounts in escrow during the 119th Congress and releases them at the end of that Congress, but applies the permanent reduction to pay after the November 2026 election.

This section reduces each Member of Congress’s annual pay rate by one day’s pay for every 24-hour period a government shutdown is in effect, beginning after the November 2026 general election. For the 119th Congress, it withholds the amounts in escrow and releases them on the last day of that Congress. A government shutdown is defined as any lapse in appropriations resulting from the failure to enact a regular appropriations bill or continuing resolution.

This section defines "Member of Congress" for purposes of this title as an individual serving in a position under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. It also defines the "payroll administrator" of the House of Representatives as the Chief Administrative Officer or a designee and of the Senate as the Secretary of the Senate or a designee.

This section establishes an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices and requires the President to nominate one justice for Senate confirmation during the first and third years after each presidential election year. It limits each justice to a single 18-year term of active service, after which the justice retires. The Senate must act on nominations within 90 days, or 120 days for resubmissions. Current justices are phased into retirement in order of seniority as new justices are commissioned.

This section authorizes the Chief Justice to select, through a publicly transparent and randomized process, a retired Supreme Court justice who has retained office under section 371 to serve temporarily as an associate justice when the number of active justices falls below nine due to vacancy, disability, or disqualification, until the full complement is restored.

This section proposes a constitutional amendment limiting service to nine terms in the House of Representatives and three terms in the Senate. Partial terms from filling vacancies count toward the limits only if they exceed one year in the House or three years in the Senate, and no terms beginning before ratification are counted. The amendment requires ratification by three-fourths of the states within seven years.

This section establishes an Office of Ethics Counsel within the Supreme Court, headed by a chief ethics counsel appointed by the Chief Justice. The office advises justices and their spouses on financial disclosures, gifts, political activity, conflicts of interest, recusal, and unauthorized disclosure of documents. The chief counsel receives at least $225,000 annually and other counsels at least $180,000; all serve no more than two 6-year terms, must be licensed attorneys with at least 5 years of experience, and may be terminated only for cause. The office must provide biannual ethics training to each justice and submit an annual report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees detailing advice sought, topics covered, recommended mitigations, and instances of noncompliance.

This section establishes an Office of Investigative Counsel within the Supreme Court of the United States, consisting of a Chief Investigative Counsel serving one 6-year term at an annual salary of at least $225,000 and at least two additional counsels at $180,000 each, all with at least 7 years of legal experience. The office reviews ethics complaints filed by congressional leaders against justices or their spouses and dependents, determines within 60 days whether to investigate, opens any full investigation within 15 days, issues subpoenas, and reports findings and recommendations to the Chief Justice or senior associate justice.

This section provides that if any provision of this title is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the title and its application to any other person or circumstance remains in effect.

This section proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing Congress and the states to regulate and impose reasonable viewpoint-neutral limits on the raising and spending of money to influence elections, enact public campaign financing systems that offset private spending, and distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities, including by prohibiting corporate spending to influence elections. The amendment preserves press freedoms and requires ratification by three-fourths of the states within seven years.

This section requires covered organizations making campaign-related disbursements aggregating more than $10,000 in an election reporting cycle to file a disclosure statement with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours after each disclosure date. The statement must include the organization's name and address, beneficial owners of certain entities, each disbursement over $1,000, the election and candidates involved, a certification of non-coordination with candidates or parties, and donor information for payments of $10,000 or more (with inflation adjustments after 2027).

This section expands disclosure requirements under the Federal Election Campaign Act to cover disbursements by covered organizations for Federal judicial nomination communications. It treats such disbursements as campaign-related disbursements, applies the $10,000 and $1,000 reporting thresholds separately, uses the calendar year as the election reporting cycle, and substitutes references to nominees for Federal judge or justice in place of candidates.

This section directs the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to provide the Federal Election Commission with information necessary to administer and enforce section 324 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. It requires the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, in consultation with the Director, to submit a report to Congress within 6 months of enactment with recommendations for additional legislative authority.

This section prohibits foreign nationals from making any disbursement, other than one described in section 324(a)(3)(A), to another person who made a campaign-related disbursement consisting of a covered transfer during the 2-year period ending on the date of the disbursement.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Federal Election Commission should simplify the process for filing disclosures required under this title to make it as easy and accessible as possible.

This section applies the amendments made by this title to disbursements made on or after January 1, 2027, and provides that the amendments take effect regardless of whether the Federal Election Commission has promulgated implementing regulations.

This section limits the authority to establish or operate separate segregated funds for political purposes to nonprofit corporations only. It defines a nonprofit corporation as a corporation described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code, other than a corporation ineligible for such exemption if it establishes a separate segregated fund. It permits solicitation of contributions only from executive and administrative personnel, removing prior authority to solicit stockholders and their families. It applies the same restrictions to government contractors.

This section sets the effective date of the title's amendments as the date of enactment. It requires any existing separate segregated fund under section 316(b)(2)(C) of the Federal Election Campaign Act that is not a fund of a nonprofit corporation (as defined in new section 316(b)(8)) to terminate and disburse its entire balance within one year of enactment.

This section finds that Congress has authority under Article I, Section 4, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Guarantee Clause to set terms and conditions for States to follow in congressional redistricting after apportionment. It states that uniform redistricting criteria are needed to enforce equal protection and prevent partisan gerrymandering that dilutes votes by infringing on First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

This section prohibits a State from redistricting again after it has redistricted in accordance with this title, until after the next apportionment of Representatives following the decennial census, unless a court orders a subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the terms of this title, or applicable State law.

This section requires states to draw congressional districts after the April 2021 apportionment according to ranked criteria that prioritize constitutional population equality, Voting Rights Act compliance including coalition districts for protected groups, prevention of vote dilution for such groups regardless of majority status, and representation of communities of interest. It prohibits any plan whose districts, evaluated statewide, materially favor or disfavor a political party based on computer modeling of the prior eight years of federal elections and related statistical analysis.

This section requires the entity responsible for a state's congressional redistricting plan to develop it through an open process that solicits public comments, maintains a nonpartisan public website with all proposed and final plans, public comments, demographic data, mapping software, and searchable formats, and provides notices in languages required under Voting Rights Act section 203. It also mandates hearings in multiple regions streamed live with access for racial, ethnic, and language minorities, at least 5 days of public review before any vote or hearing, a written evaluation of each plan against external metrics released 48 hours before a vote, and all public comments posted 24 hours before final adoption.

This section requires each State to enact a final congressional redistricting plan by the earliest of the deadline under State law, February 15 of the year of regularly scheduled general elections, or 90 days before the next primary election. If a State misses the deadline, it authorizes any citizen to sue in federal district court in the District of Columbia or the State capital, where a three-judge court develops and publishes the plan after public hearings, comment periods, and consideration of the same criteria that would have applied to the State.

This section establishes civil enforcement of congressional redistricting requirements. The Attorney General or any aggrieved state resident may sue in federal district court for appropriate relief, with exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia or the state capital district, three-judge panels for statewide claims, expedited proceedings, and appeals to the D.C. Circuit en banc within 10 days. Courts must adopt replacement plans meeting the title's standards or interim plans if final adjudication is not expected at least three months before a primary election.

This section provides that nothing in the title or its amendments affects the manner in which a state conducts elections for state or local office, including the process of establishing districts for those elections.

This section applies this title and its amendments on the date of enactment, and extends those provisions except section 1004 to every congressional redistricting plan enacted after the April 26, 2021 apportionment notice, regardless of whether a state adopted the plan before enactment.

This section expands the Voting Rights Act's prohibition on discriminatory voting qualifications and practices to cover those imposed for the purpose of, or resulting in, denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race or color. It requires plaintiffs in vote dilution claims to first show that a protected class is sufficiently numerous and compact to form a majority in a single-member district, is politically cohesive, and faces bloc voting by others that defeats its preferred candidates, then directs courts to apply a totality-of-circumstances test using specified historical and electoral factors. It further establishes that a vote denial or abridgement violation occurs when a practice imposes greater costs or burdens on protected-class members than on others and those burdens are linked to social or historical discrimination.

This section prohibits any state or political subdivision from enacting or administering a voting qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure that has the purpose or effect of diminishing the ability of citizens to participate in elections or elect their preferred candidates on account of race or color. The prohibition applies to actions taken on or after January 1, 2021, but does not override final preclearance decisions issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under section 5.

This section broadens the violations that authorize federal courts to appoint observers and retain jurisdiction under sections 3(a) and 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Courts may now act upon violations of the Act itself or any federal law barring discrimination in voting on the basis of race, color, or language-minority status, in addition to violations of the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.

This section establishes new criteria for coverage under section 4(a) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It applies subsection (a) to a state and all its political subdivisions during a calendar year if the state had 15 or more voting rights violations in the prior 25 years, 10 or more violations with at least one committed by the state itself, or 3 or more violations where the state administers elections in the affected jurisdictions; it applies subsection (a) to a political subdivision as a separate unit if that subdivision had 3 or more violations in the prior 25 years. Coverage lasts 10 years beginning January 1 of the year it applies, and a voting rights violation includes final or preliminary judicial findings of 14th or 15th Amendment or Act violations, denials of declaratory judgments, or Attorney General objections under sections 3(c) or 5.

This section establishes a practice-based preclearance requirement under which each State and political subdivision must identify newly enacted or adopted covered practices and ensure none are implemented without preclearance. Covered practices include changes to methods of election, jurisdiction boundaries that reduce a racial or language minority group’s share of the voting-age population by 3 or more percentage points, redistricting, documentation or identification requirements for voting, multilingual voting materials, and voting locations or opportunities when two or more racial or language minority groups each comprise 20 percent or more of the voting-age population, or a single such group comprises 15 or 20 percent or more in specified circumstances.

This section requires states and political subdivisions to provide public notice within 48 hours of any change to voting qualifications, prerequisites, standards, practices, or procedures for Federal elections, including a concise description of the difference from the prior rule and in a format accessible to persons with disabilities. It also mandates disclosure, at least 30 days before such an election, of polling place resources including locations, accessibility, voting machines, poll workers, hours, and demographic breakdowns of voting-age population and registered voters where available, with updates within 48 hours; and requires notice within 10 days of any change to electoral district boundaries or constituencies, including demographic and electoral data for affected areas.

This section expands the authority to assign federal election observers by authorizing the Attorney General to assign them when necessary to enforce section 203 bilingual election requirements or any federal voting rights law. It transfers responsibility for assigning and designating observers from the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to the Attorney General.

This section authorizes aggrieved persons, in addition to the Attorney General, to institute actions for declaratory judgment or injunctive relief against enforcement of poll tax requirements as a precondition to voting under 52 U.S.C. 10306. It further permits aggrieved persons to bring suits in district court alleging that any voting qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure denies citizens the right to vote in violation of the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, or 26th Amendments or the Voting Rights Act, and to seek restraining orders, preliminary or permanent injunctions, or other appropriate relief to enforce the 26th Amendment.

This section revises the standard for granting preliminary relief in civil actions brought by the Attorney General under the Voting Rights Act to prevent violations of voting rights. It requires courts to grant such relief upon a showing of a serious question of a violation and a balance of hardships favoring the plaintiff, and directs courts to weigh specific factors when evaluating changes to voting qualifications, prerequisites, or procedures, including whether the prior rule remedied discrimination, whether the change occurred fewer than 180 days before an election, and whether timely notice was provided. It further provides that a jurisdiction’s inability to enforce its voting laws alone does not constitute irreparable harm for purposes of stays or interlocutory appeals.

This section authorizes equitable relief and attorney's fees for any act or practice that violates the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, or 26th Amendment, 52 U.S.C. 10101, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act, or other federal voting discrimination laws. It requires courts to give substantial weight to the public interest in expanding voting access, presumes no harm from timing if relief is sought within 30 days of a policy or more than 45 days before an election, and bars stays or vacaturs that deny the right to vote to citizens who relied on prior orders.

This section authorizes the Attorney General, before filing a civil action, to issue written demands to states, political subdivisions, or their agents for production of documentary material, written answers to questions, or both, regarding any voting qualification, practice, or other matter under investigation under the Voting Rights Act or other federal voting rights statutes. Demands must include a sworn certificate identifying the matter and statute, allow at least 20 days for response, and may not seek materials protected under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure discovery standards. States must respond with a sworn certificate of compliance or specific objections, and the Attorney General may petition a district court for enforcement.

This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It defines "Indian" and "Indian tribe" by reference to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, specifies "Indian lands" to include Indian country, certain Alaska Native lands, tribal government seats, and tribal statistical areas, and defines "voting-age population" as persons age 18 or older as calculated by the Census Bureau under the most recent decennial census.

This section defines prevailing party, for purposes of attorney's fee awards in actions enforcing the voting guarantees of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment, as a party that receives at least some of the benefit sought by the action, states a colorable claim, and establishes that the action was a significant cause of a change to the status quo.

This section revises enforcement provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It expands section 3(c) to cover any action in which a party (including the Attorney General) seeks to enforce voting guarantees of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment, and updates references from proceedings to actions. It removes the second sentence of section 4(f)(1) and strikes paragraphs (3) and (4) regarding language minority groups. It updates section 5(a) preclearance triggers to apply during a calendar year when coverage determinations are in effect, replaces specific historical dates with “the applicable date of coverage,” and adds subsection (e) defining that term as June 25, 2013, for determinations on or before December 31, 2025, or the date of the most recent determination thereafter.

This section provides that if any provision of this subtitle or amendment made by this subtitle is held unconstitutional or unenforceable, the remainder of the subtitle, its amendments, and any remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 remain in effect.

This section establishes a grant program under which the Attorney General awards funding each fiscal year to small jurisdictions, defined as any political subdivision of a State with a population of 10,000 or less, to assist with compliance with Voting Rights Act of 1965 requirements to submit or publish notice of changes to voting qualifications, prerequisites, standards, practices, or procedures.

This section bars Members of Congress, former Members, cabinet members, and former cabinet members from receiving federal retirement annuities or retired pay if finally convicted, after the date of enactment, of a felony under federal or state law for acts or omissions committed while in office. It also extends the prohibition on payment during absence from the United States to avoid prosecution to such offenses.

This section terminates the monetary allowance and most other benefits under the Former Presidents Act for any former President finally convicted of a felony whose elements were satisfied during or after the presidential term, or while holding office. It limits remaining expenditures to Secret Service-determined security needs, requires repayment of allowances received between initial and final conviction, and conditions benefits on the absence of an impeachment conviction by the Senate.

This section bars claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act brought by the President, the President's spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or any entity in which the President holds an ownership interest. It also bars claims by former Presidents unless approved by a vote of at least 8 members of a 12-member bipartisan ad hoc congressional committee. The changes apply to claims pending on or brought after the date of enactment.

This section prohibits covered individuals—including Members of Congress, the President, the Vice President, political appointees, senior executive branch employees above GS-15, judicial officers and employees, and their spouses or dependent children—from entering into or offering to enter agreements, contracts, or transactions on prediction markets dependent on the occurrence of a specific political event. It requires supervising ethics offices to issue interpretive guidance, imposes penalties equal to 10 percent of the transaction value plus disgorgement of profits payable to the Treasury, bars payment of penalties from representational allowances or campaign funds, and mandates public online disclosure of each fine assessed.