To protect our democracy by preventing abuses of Presidential power, restoring checks and balances and accountability and transparency in government, and defending elections against foreign interference, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · May 14, 2026
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, House Administration, the Budget, Transportation and Infrastructure, Rules, Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, and Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
H.R. 8831, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, is a comprehensive reform bill addressing ethics, transparency, and congressional oversight of executive power. The legislation establishes new restrictions on foreign and domestic payments to senior federal officials, requires disclosure of tax returns by presidential candidates, regulates online political advertising with sponsor identification and platform record-keeping requirements, and strengthens congressional enforcement mechanisms including subpoena compliance and budget authority oversight. The bill expands whistleblower protections for federal employees and intelligence community workers, creates an Inspector General position for the Executive Office of the President, reforms the National Emergencies Act to require congressional approval within 20 legislative days, and imposes new disclosure and ethical requirements on inaugural committees, legal expense funds, and executive appointees. Most provisions take effect upon enactment, with specific timelines for implementing rules (such as the 120-day deadline for FEC regulations on online political ads and the one-year deadline for Office of Government Ethics rules on legal expense funds), and violators face civil penalties, criminal penalties up to one year imprisonment, and forfeiture of improper payments to the U.S. Treasury.
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