Ethics Bill Forces President/VP Divestment in 30 Days and Expands Financial Disclosure to Extended Family

The “No Bribes for Politicians Act of 2025” is a major overhaul of ethics rules for the highest levels of the Executive Branch, focusing on transparency and eliminating conflicts of interest. The bill introduces several significant changes, including requiring top officials to report their finances twice a year instead of once, and drastically limiting the business activities of the President and Vice President while they are in office. If you’re tracking how policy affects the highest offices, this is the kind of bill that changes the rules of the game.

The Presidential Divestment Deadline

Section 5 of this Act deals directly with the President and Vice President, laying down some seriously strict boundaries between public service and private profit. Right now, the rules around a President’s business holdings are often more about tradition than law, but this bill changes that. It explicitly prohibits the President and VP from owning any stake in a for-profit company, partnership, or corporation. If they already own such assets when they take office, they must sell them off and convert them to cash within 30 days. That’s a tight turnaround for complex assets, potentially forcing a “fire sale” or requiring reliance on blind trusts, though the bill doesn't specify the mechanism. This is a huge shift, designed to eliminate conflicts of interest, but the tight 30-day window could be a logistical nightmare for anyone with a complicated portfolio.

No More Side Hustles or Name Checks

Beyond ownership, Section 5 also bans the President and VP from holding any decision-making roles—like being an officer or board member—in a for-profit business while they serve. This means no more running the family business on the side. Crucially, the bill also extends the ethics wall to their immediate family: the President, VP, their spouse, and dependent children are all prohibited from using the President’s or VP’s name or image to make money. This provision aims to prevent the commercial exploitation of the office itself, stopping companies from paying for an endorsement that relies on the prestige of the White House.

The Twice-a-Year Checkup for Officials

For many high-level federal officers and employees, the administrative burden of financial disclosure is about to double. Section 3 moves the financial reporting requirement from an annual filing to a biannual one, starting in 2026. If you work more than 60 days in the first half of the year (Jan 1–June 30), you file a report by October 15th. If you work more than 60 days in the second half (July 1–Dec 31), you file another report by May 15th of the following year. While this increases transparency by providing more timely financial snapshots, it also means covered employees—who are already juggling complex compliance—will spend twice as much time gathering and reporting their financial data.

Expanding the Family Tree of Disclosure

Perhaps the most sweeping change in terms of scope is Section 4, which dramatically expands who the President, Vice President, and Cabinet Secretaries must report on financially. Currently, disclosure often focuses on spouses and dependent children. This bill expands the definition of “relative” to include a wide net of extended family: father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, or niece, plus all in-laws and step-family members. This means top officials must now report the financial details of dozens of relatives, including their first cousins. While the goal is to prevent officials from hiding assets or conflicts through extended family members, this provision places a significant compliance and privacy burden not just on the officials, but on many family members who are not involved in government at all.