Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) yesterday proposed sweeping new ethics restrictions for federal officials, the Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal includes a ban on individual stock ownership by members of Congress, White House staff and federal judges; a prohibition on Americans serving as lobbyists for foreign countries; and a mandate on the release of tax returns by candidates for president and Congress. Warren’s legislation, dubbed the “Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act,” would apply conflict-of-interest laws to the president and vice president and require them to sell assets through a blind trust. In the name of transparency, she would require the IRS to release the previous eight years of tax returns for any candidate for president and vice president—and then do so for each year they are in office. The IRS would make public two years of tax returns for congressional candidates, in addition to each year they are in office. The bill is unlikely to become law, while Republicans control Congress and the White House.
