[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2189 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2189
To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the
President, the Vice President, and political appointees, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 22, 2023
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the
President, the Vice President, and political appointees, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Executive Branch Emissions
Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. DATABASE ON FOSSIL FUEL-POWERED TRAVEL BY THE PRESIDENT, THE
VICE PRESIDENT, AND POLITICAL APPOINTEES.
(a) Definitions.--
(1) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual''
means--
(A) the President;
(B) the Vice President; and
(C) a political appointee.
(2) Covered travel.--The term ``covered travel'' means--
(A) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by a
covered individual on official business; and
(B) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by a
covered individual that is paid for by a third party,
if the covered individual is appearing in their
official capacity.
(3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
(4) Political appointee.--The term ``political appointee''
means any individual--
(A) occupying a position in the Executive Office of
the President or in the Office of the Vice President
for which appointment is made by the President or Vice
President, without regard to whether the appointment is
made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate;
(B) occupying position on the executive schedule
under sections 5312 through 5316 of title 5, United
States Code;
(C) who is a limited term appointee, limited
emergency appointee, or noncareer appointee in the
Senior Executive Service as defined in paragraphs (5),
(6), and (7) of section 3132(a) of title 5, United
States Code, respectively;
(D) occupying a position in the executive branch of
the Government of a confidential or policy-determining
character under Schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of
title 5, Code of Federal Regulations;
(E) occupying a position for which appointment is
made by the President and does not require the advice
and consent of the Senate;
(F) who is an Ambassador; or
(G) who is--
(i) a member of the staff of an Ambassador;
(ii) not a member of the Foreign Service;
and
(iii) occupying a position for which
appointment is made by the President, without
regard to whether the appointment is made by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(5) Relevant head.--The term ``relevant head'' means--
(A) with respect to a political appointee described
in subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E) of paragraph (4),
the head of the Federal entity in which the political
appointee occupies their position;
(B) with respect to the President, the Vice
President, or a political appointee described in
paragraph (4)(A), the White House Office of Management
and Administration; and
(C) with respect to a political appointee described
in subparagraph (F) or (G) of paragraph (4), the
Secretary of State.
(b) Database.--
(1) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish and
maintain a publicly accessible and searchable database of
covered travel.
(2) Submission to relevant head.--Not later than 30 days
after the date on which a covered individual has taken covered
travel and has returned to the origin of the trip, the covered
individual shall submit to the relevant head a report on the
covered travel, which shall include--
(A) the name of each covered individual on the
covered travel;
(B) the mode of travel;
(C) the origin and destination;
(D) a description of the covered travel;
(E) miles traveled;
(F) the estimated carbon emissions resulting from
the covered travel; and
(G) a description of any action taken to limit the
carbon emissions associated with the covered travel.
(3) Submission to omb.--Not later than the 1st of each
month, each relevant head shall submit to the Director a report
that includes the information received under paragraph (2)
during the preceding month relating to covered travel.
(4) Publication by omb.--Not later than the 15th of each
month, the Director shall update the database established under
this subsection with the reports submitted under paragraph (3)
during the preceding month.
(5) Exception for national security risk.--The Director
shall not publish on the database established under this
subsection information described in paragraph (2) if the
publication of that information could be deemed a national
security risk.
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