Republicans will ban lawmakers who leave Congress early from lobbying for a year after terms expire, saying “oath of office” comes first over self-serving “bitterness” after high-profile GOP departures

The Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney in New York is ‘frustrated’ that members of Congress are quitting early and has introduced a new bill that would ban them from lobbying for a year after their term ends if they do.

Existing law prohibits members of the House and Senate from lobbying for one year and two years, respectively, from the date they leave Congress, not from the date their terms were supposed to end.

Tenney’s bill would start the clock on a lobbying ban from the date a member agreed to serve until they took office, not the day they leave early.

“If you are elected to serve a term, we want to make sure that term is respected,” Tenney told DailyMail.com.

Tenney said she doesn’t think lobbying bans should be ‘permanent’ given ‘First Amendment rights’, but the bill would give ‘more incentive’ to members to stay through their terms.

To members who leave early and deposit money, she says: ‘You may be annoyed by the job, but you signed up for this job. You took the oath of office.’

Tenney insisted her legislation ‘isn’t aimed at one person, but we just keep seeing this happen over and over and it’s not people just leaving now, it’s been going on for years.’

Lobbying is by far the most popular career for former members of Congress: over 400 former members are currently employed as such.

Rep. Mike Gallagher will be the sixth House Republican to leave early when he resigns on April 19 — a date that has become a point of contention

Former Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., left Congress on March 22, 2024

Of the former members of the 115th Congress from 2017-2019, around 60 per cent are currently employed by lobbying firms or lobbying clients.

Often, the members get around the one-year lobbying ban by joining firms in an “advisory” role before moving on to official lobbying once their bans have ended.

Her legislation came at a poignant time — Reps. Ken Buck and Mike Gallagher dealt a blow to the GOP majority in the House by announcing their departures last month. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced his early retirement in December.

Gallagher’s came as a particular shock: he chairs the high-profile subcommittee on China.

Both had taken heat from the right wing of the party when they voted against the impeachment of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.

Gallagher will become the sixth House Republican to leave early when he steps down on April 19 — a date that has become a point of contention.

‘If you really want to leave early, leave early enough so we could at least get a special election in place.

Under Wisconsin’s complicated election law, Gallagher’s departure date could have led to two different scenarios.

If he leaves between April 9 and May 14, a special primary and special election will be combined with the general primary on August 13 and the general election on November 5.

The winner of the Nov. 5 special election could stay in office as soon as House rules allow, filling a Republican seat in the days immediately following the 2024 election.

But if Gallagher were to leave before April 9, a special primary and special election could be called at the will of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

The earliest Evers could hold a special election, according to Wisconsin codeis the 23rd of August. But that would run afoul of another provision of the Wisconsin Code: ‘No special election shall be held … after 1 August prior to the general election, unless it is held on the same day as the general election.’

Therefore, Evers could potentially push the special election date to the same or even after the Nov. 5 general election date.

Still, Republicans seized Gallagher’s run for the exit.

Tenney warned that without a member representing Gallagher’s district, constituent services — case management — help with Social Security, veterans or other federal benefits, immigration, getting records from federal agencies, help with grants and nominations for service academies would all fall away the road.

“In the Gallagher situation, after April 19, there’s no one who’s going to represent this district and no member of Congress is going to step in and advocate — no one is able to advocate really aggressively like we’re doing.”

She praised former Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, who left because his wife was ‘in serious health’ but held on as long as he could to ensure a smooth transition before a special election for his seat.

Tenney has not spoken to Gallagher since his announcement, but said she encouraged Buck to personally stay in Congress.

‘He says he will go for electoral integrity. I said, “Why don’t you stay in Congress and join my election integrity meeting?” Tenney said. “Yeah, we didn’t seem that interested.”

Gallagher left just after what appears to be the pinnacle of his career: The House recently passed a bill that would require Chinese-controlled ByteDance to divest TikTok or the popular video-sharing app would face a ban.

He is now expected to take a job with US surveillance firm and defense contractor Palantir. It is not clear what his role would be in the company.

McCarthy, meanwhile, has been playing talks across the country that are likely to bring in big bucks.