S2189-118

Introduced

To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the President, the Vice President, and political appointees, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Jun 22, 2023

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

The Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act requires the creation of a publicly searchable database tracking all fossil fuel-powered travel by the President, Vice President, and political appointees. The database must include details about each trip such as miles traveled, carbon emissions, and the purpose of travel.

Who Benefits and How

Climate advocacy groups and government transparency organizations benefit from access to detailed data on executive branch travel emissions. Journalists and researchers gain a new tool for monitoring government officials' carbon footprints and travel patterns.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The President, Vice President, and approximately 4,000+ political appointees must file travel reports within 30 days of returning from trips. The Office of Management and Budget must establish and maintain the public database. Federal agencies must track and submit travel data for their political appointees.

Key Provisions

  • Creates a publicly accessible, searchable database of covered travel by executive branch officials
  • Requires covered individuals to report travel details including carbon emissions within 30 days
  • Defines 'covered travel' to include both official business travel and third-party paid travel when appearing in official capacity

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Requires the Office of Management and Budget to establish a public database tracking fossil fuel-powered travel by the President, Vice President, and political appointees, including carbon emissions reporting

Key Policy Areas

Government Accountability, Environment, Climate

Primary Purpose

Requires the Office of Management and Budget to establish a public database tracking fossil fuel-powered travel by the President, Vice President, and political appointees, including carbon emissions reporting

Policy Domains

Government Accountability Environment Climate

Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act

Identified Gains
  • Climate advocacy organizations
  • Government transparency groups
  • Journalists and researchers
Model: N/A | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Journalists and researchers:
Climate advocacy organizations:
Government transparency groups:
Identified Costs
  • Office of Management and Budget
  • Political appointees
  • White House Office of Management and Administration
  • Federal agency heads
Model: N/A | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Federal agency heads:
Political appointees:
Office of Management and Budget:
White House Office of Management and Administration:

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Jun 22, 2023

Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
4 mentions across 1 clause
-4 negative

Federal agency heads, Office of Management and Budget, Political appointees in the Executive Branch

Civic Organizations
2 mentions across 1 clause
+2 positive

Climate advocacy and environmental organizations, Government transparency and accountability groups

Media & Entertainment
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Journalists and researchers

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Government Accountability Environment Climate
Actor Mappings
"the_director"
→ Director of the Office of Management and Budget
"relevant_head"
→ Head of the Federal entity where the political appointee works, or White House Office of Management and Administration for President/VP

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

5 terms
"covered individual" §2(a)(1)

The President, the Vice President, or a political appointee

"covered travel" §2(a)(2)

Travel powered by fossil fuels by a covered individual on official business, or travel paid for by a third party when appearing in official capacity

"Director" §2(a)(3)

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget

"political appointee" §2(a)(4)

Individuals in Executive Office positions, executive schedule positions, Senior Executive Service noncareer appointees, Schedule C positions, presidential appointees, ambassadors, and ambassador staff members

"relevant head" §2(a)(5)

The head of the Federal entity where the political appointee works, or White House Office of Management and Administration for President/VP, or Secretary of State for ambassadors

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology