EXCLUSIVE: House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher is introducing a bill that would block immediate family members of officials within the executive branch of the U.S. government from working for certain foreign companies.
The bill, called the ‘Deterring Attempts at Dirty Deals by Youngsters Act’ or the ‘DADDY Act,’ would apply to family members of the president, vice president and cabinet officials, to ensure that immediate family members — like a son, daughter, sister, brother, or in-law — cannot take roles sitting on the boards of foreign companies while their family member holds the office.
The bill would cover immediate family members of the president of the United States; vice president; secretary of State; secretary of the Treasury; secretary of Defense; attorney general; secretary of the Interior; secretary of Agriculture; secretary of Commerce; secretary of Labor; secretary of Health and Human Services; secretary of Transportation; secretary of Energy; secretary of Education; secretary of Veterans Affairs; secretary of Homeland Security; and the director of National Intelligence.
Immediate family is described in the bill as a spouse, child, mother, father, sibling, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law; as well as adopted and step relatives.
Gallagher’s bill comes amid the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, and House Republicans’ investigations into the Biden family’s overseas business dealings.
The House Oversight Committee said this week that, through bank records, it has uncovered that the Biden family and their business associates raked in more than $24 million from foreign countries in 2014, 2015, and 2016 — when Joe Biden served as Vice President — through 2019 when he announced his presidential campaign.
Lawmakers have focused in on Hunter Biden’s business deals in China, Ukraine and other foreign nations, as well as his lucrative role on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings while his father served as vice president in the Obama administration and ran Ukraine policy. His former business associates have testified to Congress that Hunter Biden was ‘selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world.’
‘Hunter Biden is the ultimate swamp creature,’ Gallagher told Fox News Digital. ‘His shameless degree of influence peddling and profiteering is exactly what’s wrong with Washington, and it’s shocking this kind of behavior isn’t illegal already.’
‘This bill helps end this kind of corruption and ensures any family member of an executive branch official can’t profit off their family’s position in government,’ Gallagher said.
The bill’s focus would be on companies in countries that are adversarial to the United States. It would allow exemptions for companies in NATO countries, members of the Five Eyes Alliance — meaning Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as Japan, South Korea or Israel.
If passed, violations of the law would be punishable by a fine of up to $250,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
The bill comes after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer subpoenaed personal and business bank records belonging to Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James Biden, as part of the House impeachment inquiry.
‘Bank records don’t lie, and coupled with witness testimony, they reveal that Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain,’ Comer said Thursday night, adding that the financial records that his committee has obtained to date ‘reveal a pattern where the Bidens sold access to Joe Biden around the world to enrich the Biden family.’