Protecting Our Democracy Act

Key Points

• The bill bans presidential self-pardons and creates new oversight when a president pardons people connected to investigations involving the president or their associates. It also makes it a crime to offer or accept bribes in exchange for pardons.
• Presidential and vice presidential candidates must release 10 years of tax returns to the Federal Election Commission, which would make them public. Sitting presidents and vice presidents must also file annually.
• Congress gains stronger tools to enforce subpoenas, including the ability to go to court to compel compliance. It also strengthens the Impoundment Control Act so the president cannot refuse to spend money that Congress has approved.
• Whistleblower protections are expanded so that federal workers who report wrongdoing can take their cases to federal court if the Merit Systems Protection Board does not act within 180 days. Protections are also extended to intelligence community whistleblowers.
• Political campaigns must report contacts with foreign nationals to the FBI within one week, and online platforms with 50 million or more monthly users must keep public records of political ads they sell, including who paid and who the ad targeted.
• The bill creates a new Inspector General for the Executive Office of the President, strengthens Hatch Act penalties for political appointees who use their office for partisan activity, and bars convicted corporate criminals from serving in the executive branch.