Pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House. The form of the resolution is as follows: Expressing the sense of the…
Pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House.
The form of the resolution is as follows:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President shall immediately disclose his tax return information to Congress.
Mr. Speaker, it is worth expressing, once again.
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives, the President shall immediately disclose his tax return information to Congress and the American people.
I want to thank Mr. Pascrell from the Ways and Means Committee for leading this issue in that committee and here on the floor, as well as Anna Eshoo from the Energy and Commerce Committee, and more to come in the weeks to come.
Mr. Speaker, the form of the remainder of the resolution is as follows:
Whereas, in the United States' system of checks and balances, Congress has a responsibility to hold the executive branch of government to the highest standard of transparency to ensure the public interest is placed first;
Whereas, according to the Tax History Project, every President after Richard Nixon has disclosed their tax return information to the public;
Whereas, tax returns provide an important baseline disclosure because they contain highly instructive information including whether the candidate paid taxes, what they own, what they have borrowed and from whom, whether they have made any charitable donations, and whether they have taken advantage of tax loopholes;
Whereas, disclosure of the President's tax returns could help those investigating Russian influence in the 2016 election understand the President's financial ties to the Russian Federation and Russian citizens, including debts owed, and whether he shares any partnership interests, equity interests, joint ventures, or licensing agreements with Russia or Russians;
Whereas, it has been reported that President Trump's close senior advisers, including Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and General Michael Flynn, have been under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their ties to the Russian Federation;
Whereas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax, a Russian media outlet, on November 10, 2016, that ``there were contacts'' with Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, and it has been reported that members of President Trump's inner circle were in contact with senior Russian officials throughout the 2016 campaign;
Whereas, according to his 2016 candidate filing with the Federal Election Commission, the President has 564 financial positions in companies located in the United States and around the world;
Whereas, against the advice of ethics attorneys and the Office of Government Ethics, the President has refused to divest his ownership stake in his businesses;
Whereas, the Director of the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics said that the President's plan to transfer his business holdings to a trust managed by family members is ``meaningless'' and ``does not meet the standards that . . . every President in the past four decades has met'';
Whereas, the the Emoluments Clause was included in the U.S. Constitution for the express purpose of preventing federal officials from accepting any ``present, Emolument, Office, or Title . . . from any King, Prince, or foreign state'';
Whereas, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., has hired a ``director of diplomatic sales'' to generate high-priced business among foreign leaders and diplomatic delegations;
Whereas, the Trump International Hotel could receive up to $60,000 from the Kuwaiti government for a party it held at the hotel on February 22, 2017;
Whereas, the President used a legally dubious tax maneuver in 1995 that could have allowed him to avoid paying federal taxes for 18 years;
Whereas, the public still does not have a thorough understanding of the influences and conflicts President Trump has due to his various foreign and domestic business interests;
Whereas, on January 30, 2017, President Trump publicly issued an executive order announcing that pipeline makers in the U.S. must use American-made steel in their projects;
Whereas, on March 3, 2017, President Trump quietly reversed himself, issuing an order allowing the steel for the Keystone pipeline to be imported from foreign countries;
Whereas, without direct knowledge on the conflicts this President has due to his business interests, he could be advancing policies that create an uneven playing field for working Americans;
Whereas, the public should be able to examine his business interests, relationships, and conflicts to ensure that all policies put forward by the Trump administration solely benefit the American public and not his corporate business partners;
Whereas, the most signed petition on the White House website calls for the release of the President's tax return information to verify compliance with the Emoluments Clause, with 1,082,000 signatures as of the date of this resolution;
Whereas, the Chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee, Joint Committee on Taxation, and Senate Finance Committee have the authority to request the President's tax returns under Section 6103 of the tax code;
Whereas, the Joint Committee on Taxation reviewed the tax returns of President Richard Nixon in 1974 and made the information public;
Whereas, the Ways and Means Committee used IRC 6103 authority in 2014 to make public the confidential tax information of 51 taxpayers;
Whereas, the American people have the right to know whether or not their President is operating under conflicts of interest related to international affairs, tax reform, government contracts, or otherwise:
Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives shall:
One, immediately request the tax return information of Donald J. Trump for tax years 2006 through 2015 for review in closed executive session by the Committee on Ways and Means, as provided under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, and vote to report the information therein to the full House of Representatives;
Two, support transparency in government and the longstanding tradition of Presidents and Presidential candidates disclosing their tax returns.
Mr. Speaker, I offer my resolution.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I do.
Mr. Speaker, under rule IX, clause 1, questions of the privileges of the House are ``those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings.''
I would argue there is nothing more of a threat to the integrity of the House of Representatives than ignoring our duty to provide a check and balance, as our Founders expected of us, of the executive branch.
To restore the dignity of the House, we must use our authority to request President Trump's tax returns and give the American people the transparency that they deserve.
The American people know full well the scope of the President's financial background, as related by television and the media; but they don't know the details.
Article I, section 9 of the Constitution includes a clause prohibiting foreign emoluments to the President. The Office of Government Ethics has warned us about the President's decision not to divest or set up a blind trust, and there is a need to fully understand the President's ties to Russia.
Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the President saying one thing, such as mandating the use of American-made steel on American pipelines, then quietly reversing himself to allow the use of foreign-made steel on the Keystone Pipeline, which is being built by a Canadian company.
The resolution I am offering can provide the transparency to help ease the concerns of Americans in every corner of our country. The Internal Revenue Code includes language laying out a path for the Ways and Means Committee to obtain the tax returns and review them in a respectful way. There is the precedent that I have stated earlier that provides for this to be used.
A growing number of Members and Senators from both parties have been saying we should have the President's tax returns. One of those is Congressman Steve Knight of California who announced to his constituents that the President's tax returns should be made public, so I look forward to his support of this resolution.
The House must demonstrate that its Members are listening to our constituents' concerns. The House must demonstrate that it cares about protecting the integrity of the House, of our government, of our Constitution, of our system of checks and balances. Let's shine a bright light on the President's conflicts together.
We, as the elected Representatives of our constituents and the broader American public, can judge whether his decisions are being made for himself,
his business, or for the greater good of the American people.
At the end of the day, if President Trump has nothing to hide, then he should be willing to do what every President since Richard Nixon has done, and that is, release his tax returns.
Mr. Speaker, I think I have been toeing that line very closely.
At the very least, even if he continues to hide behind the phony excuse of being under audit, he should release tax returns for 2016 as those are not under audit.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution is not about partisanship. It is about America.
No, you are not listening to your constituents, my colleagues. It is about America, my colleagues. They want to see these tax returns.
The American people expect more from the promise than heckling back and forth. They expect their Representatives from both sides of the aisles to demand these tax returns.
I appreciate that, Mr. Speaker.
It is about America, Mr. Speaker.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
