Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I speak today in support of the Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act, which would require that U.S. Customs and Border…
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I speak today in support of the Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act, which would require that U.S. Customs and Border Protection ensures that personally identifiable information is not publicly disclosed during an international household move.
Customs is currently required to adequately protect personally identifiable information that is provided on, among other things, international shipping documents. In order to fulfill this mandate, Customs currently maintains procedures that allow shippers to request confidential treatment of certain information.
However, it can often take Customs several months to make a determination on such a request. Some determinations are not even made until after the information has already been publicly disclosed. That is the problem.
As a result, personally identifiable information has been mistakenly disclosed to the public. This impact has been acutely felt by U.S. civil servants and military personnel, which make up a large percentage of international household moves.
Disclosing this information has increased the risks that individuals may be the victims of identity theft and credit card fraud.
In my view, the current system at Customs is not working as well as it could or should.
I also do not believe that individuals should bear the burden of making a proactive request to Customs to ensure that their personally identifiable information is not publicly disclosed. We should be able to expect that our government will protect such sensitive information.
This bill is intended to rectify the problems by mandating that Customs put in place a proactive system that will prevent personally identifiable information from being made public.
I call on my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation that has support on both sides of the aisle.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, today is tax day, as if you didn't know that, and newly filed FEC reports show that the President's campaign paid his businesses $150,000 in the first quarter of this year, including $68,000 to the Trump Hotel in D.C., and $58,000 for rent.
Lobbyists in foreign governments continue to spend money at these hotels. We have no way of verifying what that income looks like or where it is coming from.
Candidate Trump said on the campaign trail: ``My whole life I have been greedy, greedy, greedy. I have grabbed all the money I could get. I am so greedy.''
Since the election, we have witnessed not just his own conflicts of self-enrichment at taxpayers' expense, but petty graft from members of his Cabinet and his administration, lavish travel on military jets and first-class tickets for personal reasons, and expensive office decorations. Lobbyists have been welcomed into agencies to write their own regulations.
His campaign and White House is filled with the ranks of people who already have pleaded guilty; Michael Flynn, who sold his connections to Russia and Turkish dictators while working for Mr. Trump; and so many other associates and their connections to foreign governments as leverage, and that is potentially a conflict of interest.
Bribery and grift might have a place in a crime family, but it has no place in the Office of the President or in the Congress of the United States, and this Congress has been absolutely derelict and complicit in the unprecedented conflicts of this Presidency.
Since February of 2017, I have been calling on the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to request the President's tax returns, which he has the authority to do under section 6103 of the Tax Code. I have called up resolutions. Eighteen times the committee and this House have voted against seeing the President's tax returns. Why?
Why did the President support giving rich people and corporations a giant tax cut? Why is he letting Wall Street and Big Oil write their own rules? Why are his children still running his company? Why has he not divested, as he was told to do by the ethics commissioner?
President Trump seems to have an unhealthy admiration for authoritarian leaders. He seems to have a vision of turning America into an economy and government run by his own greedy and connected circle of oligarchs. But subverting our democracy for personal gain while Congress looks the other way is poisonous to our republic and our democracy and it is an anthema to our values.
Today is tax day, the 452nd day of Mr. Trump's Presidency and the 452nd day this Congress has let him off the hook.
I call on the chairman of Ways and Means to stop delaying and get Mr. Trump's tax returns now, like every other President for the past several decades. The American people demand it. We owe it to our democracy to shed light on his conflicts.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an article from New York magazine.
[From New York Magazine, April 1, 2018]
501 Days in Swampland
(By Joy Crane and Nick Tabor, Introduction by David Cay Johnston)
On the day he took the oath of office, Donald Trump
delivered two messages about what to expect from his
administration. First came the lofty promise of his inaugural
address. ``The forgotten men and women of our country will be
forgotten no longer,'' he vowed. ``For too long, a small
group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of
government while the people have borne the
cost. Washington flourished--but the people did not share in
its wealth.''
The second message, which Trump delivered without speaking
a word, was aimed at a much smaller, but very rich, audience.
As the new president's motorcade left the Capitol, rolling
past knots of supporters and protesters, it suddenly stopped
three blocks short of the White House. Trump, the First Lady,
and the rest of his family got out of their limos and took a
three-minute turn in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue.
This was no random spot. The very first place Trump headed
after being sworn in--his true destination all along, in a
sense--was the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, which only 12
days before the election had been repurposed as the Trump
International Hotel Washington. The elegant granite
structure, whose architectural character Trump had promised
to preserve, was now besmirched by a gaudy, faux-gold sign
bearing his name. The carefully choreographed stop sent a
clear signal to the foreign governments, lobbyists, and
corporate interests keen on currying favor in Washington.
Oil companies, mining interests, insurance executives,
foreign diplomats, and defense contractors all rushed to book
their annual conferences at Trump's hotels and resorts, where
Cabinet members graciously addressed them. After hiking the
nightly rate to $653--32 percent higher than other local
luxury hotels--Trump collected $2 million in profits from the
property during his first three months in office. By last
August, the hotel's bar and restaurant had hauled in another
$8 million in revenue. And although Trump has pledged to give
away any money his hotels earn from foreign governments, the
plan contains a lucrative loophole: Employees at his hotels
admit that they make no effort to identify guests who
represent other countries, meaning that much of the foreign
money spent at Trump's properties flows directly into his own
pockets. On March 28, a federal judge allowed a lawsuit to go
forward that charges Trump with violating the Constitution by
accepting money from foreign governments at his D.C. hotel.
In fact, although Trump refuses to disclose the details of
his myriad business operations, he continues to enjoy access
to every dime he makes as president. Instead of setting up a
blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest, as other
presidents have done, Trump put his two grown sons in charge
of his more than 500 business entities. His sons regularly
brief Trump about how the enterprises are doing. What's more,
only 15 days after this ``eyes wide open'' trust was set up,
Trump amended the fine print to allow him to take money out
of the operation any time he pleases. The loophole, buried on
page 161 of the 166-page form, stipulates that any ``net
income or principal'' can be distributed to Trump ``at his
request.'' Far from putting his wealth in a blind trust,
Trump asked the public for its blind trust, effectively
sticking his money in a piggy bank in Don Jr.'s room that he
is free to raid at any hour of the day or night.
Trump's children are working hard to cash in on his time in
office--especially with foreign investors. At taxpayer
expense, they have flown to Uruguay, the Dominican Republic,
Dubai, and India in search of licensing and real-estate
deals, trading on the president's influence in exchange for
investments. But the biggest complication of Trump's
presidency--and the one he works hardest to keep secret--is
the way his entire business operation is mired in massive
debt. Rather than being independently wealthy, public records
show, Trump and the business partnerships in which he is a
leading investor owe big banks and foreign governments at
least $2.3 billion--far more than his disclosure reports
indicate. His largest single loan--for nearly $1 billion--is
from a syndicate assembled by Goldman Sachs that includes the
state-owned Bank of China If either Trump or Jared Kushner,
who tried to shake down Qatar's finance minister for a loan,
winds up needing to negotiate new terms on his ballooning
debt, America could find itself being dictated to by a
foreign government--all because the White House, thanks to
Trump's business model, has become a true House of Cards.
What follows is 501 days of official corruption, from
small-time graft and brazen influence peddling to full-blown
raids on the federal Treasury. But as even this initial
glimpse makes clear, Trump isn't draining the swamp--he's
monetizing it.--David Cay Johnston
Trump's Hotel in D.C.
2016
12/7 Diplomats from Bahrain move the country's National Day
celebration from the Ritz-Carlton to the ballroom at the
Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
2017
1/20 A watchdog group calls on the General Services
Administration, a federal agency, to stop leasing the Old
Post Office to Trump for use as the hotel. The agency's
ethics division, which reports to Trump, rules that the $180
million deal is fine.
1/23 Saudi Arabia holds a bash at the hotel after renting
rooms for lobbyists for five months. Trump's haul: $270,000.
2/25 The Kuwaiti Embassy, reportedly pressured by the Trump
Organization, moves its National Day celebration from the
Four Seasons to Trump's hotel.
3/1 The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance
Association hosts a dinner at the hotel, drenched in Trump-
branded coffee and wine.
3/22 The American Petroleum Institute holds its board
meeting at Trump's hotel, where it meets with EPA chief Scott
Pruitt. A month later, Pruitt suspends drilling regulations.
5/1 Rates at the hotel jump to $653 per night, a price hike
of 60 percent since Trump's election.
5/21 A Turkish government council holds its annual
conference at the hotel. The group's chair founded the
company that paid $530,000 to former national-security
adviser Michael Flynn for lobbying work.
7/17 E-cigarette-makers hold their annual conference at the
hotel. Ten days later, the FDA announces it will delay
federal oversight of e-cigarettes until 2022.
8/11 A federal agency accidentally posts the hotel's Q1
profits: $2 million.
9/13 Staffers for Linda McMahon, head of the Small Business
Administration, try to cover up the fact that she addressed a
business lobbying event at the hotel, avoiding images of
hotel signs bearing Trump's name when posting photos of the
event on Twitter.
9/28 The Fund for American Studies, a conservative
organization, hosts a lunch at the hotel. The keynote
speaker, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, thanks Trump's
staff for helping him get confirmed.
10/4 At its annual board meeting, the National Mining
Association is addressed by three Cabinet members: Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, and
Energy Secretary Rick Perry. ``Coal is fighting back,'' Perry
exults over breakfast with the country's top mining
executives. ``Clearly the president wants to revive, not
revile, this vital resource. ``Five days later, the Trump
administration announces the repeal of Obama's Clean Power
Plan, which would have encouraged states to replace coal with
wind and solar energy. The plan would have cut climate-
warming pollution from coal plants by a third and saved
taxpayers and consumers as much as $93 billion a year. The
venue for the mining board's meeting: the Trump International
Hotel in Washington, D.C.
10/5 A commercial real-estate trade association hosts an
awards gala at Trump's hotel, sponsored by a roster of
prominent lobbying agents.
10/11 The American Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful
conservative lobbying group with ties to the Koch brothers,
announces that the venue for its 45th-anniversary gala will
be Trump's hotel. The group requests corporate sponsorships
of up to $100,000.
2018
3/5 The Independent Petroleum Association of America holds
a three-day lobbying event at the hotel.
3/28 A federal judge declines to stop a lawsuit that
accuses Trump of violating the Constitution by accepting
money from foreign governments at his hotel.
Mar-a-Lago
``The ornate Jazz Age house was designed with Old-World
Spanish, Venetian, and Portuguese influences.''--From a state
department promo online
2016
12/31 Mar-a-Lago hosts a New Year's Eve party with Trump,
priced at $525 a ticket. His take for the night: $400,000.
2017
1/1 The resort quietly doubles its initiation fee to
$200,000--a potential haul of $2 million. In return, club
members get access to the president on a par with White House
officials.
4/4 The State Department runs an online promotion for Mar-
a-Lago, which is also picked up by embassy websites in
England and Albania.
4/6 Trump and Ivanka meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping
at Mar-a-Lago. That same day, China approves trademarks for
three of Ivanka's brands.
6/16 Financial-disclosure filings show that Trump's
revenues from the resort soared by 25 percent during his
presidential run.
7/17 The administration increases the allotment of H2-B
visas for foreign workers. Within days, Mar-a-Lago applies
for 76 of the new visas--even though a local jobs agency has
5,100 applicants qualified to fill the openings.
11/10 The Republican Attorneys General Association, which
has spent more than $75,000 at Trump's properties in five
months, holds a reception at Mar-a-Lago. It later forms a
``working group'' to partner with the Trump administration to
roll back environmental protections.
12/9 Oxbow Carbon, a major energy company that would
benefit from the Keystone XL pipeline, holds its annual
holiday gala at Mar-a-Lago.
12/31 Trump boosts ticket prices for his New Year's Eve
bash to $750. Taxpayers foot the $26,000 bill for lights,
generators, and tent rental.
2018
1/9 The Trump administration opens offshore drilling in all
but one state: Florida, where oil and gas exploration could
hurt business at Mar-a-Lago.
2/18 Reports reveal that Trump regularly solicits input
from Mar-a-Lago members on everything from gun control to
Jared Kushner's favorability.
2/26 An Israel-focused charity, the Truth About Israel,
relocates its gala to Mar-a-Lago in appreciation of the
president's support for Israel.
Trump's Other Properties & Investments
2016
11/14 In a call with Argentina's president, Mauricio Macri,
Trump reportedly pushes for
approval to build a Trump Tower in downtown Buenos Aires
Ivanka Trump, who oversees the family business with her
brothers, sits in on the call.
2017
1/24 Trump signs an executive order to fast-track the
Dakota Access Pipeline. He claims to have sold the stock he
owns in the pipeline's builders--as much as $300,000--but
offers no proof.
1/27 Trump issues the travel ban but leaves off Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt--countries where he has significant
business interests. His company was paid as much as $10
million for use of his name on a tower in Istanbul, and he
registered eight new businesses in Saudi Arabia during his
campaign.
2/3 Trump, who owned as much as $5 million in bank stocks
in 2016, orders the Treasury secretary to consider ways to
roll back regulations on banks. The value of bank stocks
soars nearly 30 percent during his first year in office.
2/14 Trump, who owned stock in large oil companies, allows
oil companies to hide the payments they make to foreign
governments in exchange for extraction rights. The move comes
only two months after ExxonMobil, which lobbied for the
concession, donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration.
2/21 Angela Chen, a consultant with ties to China's ruling
elite, buys a $16 million penthouse in a Trump-owned
property.
2/28 Trump, who owns 12 golf courses in the U.S., rolls
back a rule that limits water pollution by golf courses.
4/29 Overriding diplomatic concerns, Trump invites
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to the White House. To
gain favor with Trump, Duterte had appointed the president's
partner on the Trump Tower in Manila as his economic envoy to
the U.S.
5/7 The Metals Service Center Institute, which is pushing
the Commerce Department for steel tariffs, holds its annual
conference at Trump's resort in Miami.
5/16 The Republican Governors Association holds a
conference at Trump's golf club in Miami, where members
strategize with corporate executives over how to persuade the
new administration to dismantle environmental regulations and
enact other business-friendly moves. Trump's take for the
conference: $400,000.
5/19 Trump proposes slashing HUD's budget--but retains a
subsidy that has poured more than $490 million into a housing
complex in Brooklyn where Trump has a financial stake.
6/16 Lynne Patton, an event planner and friend of the Trump
family with no experience in housing, is put in charge of the
HUD region covering New York and New Jersey--giving her a
senior position in the agency that disburses federal
subsidies to a Brooklyn housing complex from which Trump made
$5 million in 2016. (Patton recused herself from matters
involving the complex, after a congressional committee sent a
letter to HUD.)*
8/2 Activists protest against JPMorgan Chase, which lobbied
to slash the corporate tax rate while paying Trump $1.5
million a year in rent at one of his office buildings.
9/19 Report reveals that the Pentagon spends $130,000 a
month in rent at Trump Tower--more than twice as much as
other tenants.
10/9 Trump International Hotel in Chicago hosts a two-day
conference for the manufacturing industry.
10/10 An insurance-industry trade association holds its
four-day annual conference at Trump's resort in Miami.
10/16 GEO Group, the nation's largest for-profit prison
company, holds its annual conference at the Trump National
Doral. The company poured $450,000 into Trump's campaign and
inauguration after Obama announced plans to end all federal
contracts with private prisons. GEO also hired two of Jeff
Sessions's former aides, plus a former Trump Organization
employee, as lobbyists. The investment paid off: A month
after Trump took office, he ended the ban on private prisons.
GEO received a $110 million contract to build a new
immigration jail in Texas, plus $44 million a year to operate
it. Earlier this year, the federal Bureau of Prisons
announced it would slash some 6,000 jobs and transfer more
inmates to private facilities.
10/18 Defense contractor L3 Technologies holds its annual
meeting at Trump National Doral. L3 depends on government
largesse for 84 percent of its revenue.
10/19 In a break with tradition, Trump personally
interviews candidates for U.S. attorney in the districts that
cover most of his business dealings. For the New York
position, he ultimately chooses one of his campaign donors.
11/7 Trump hawks his golf course during a major speech to
South Korea's legislature.
11/8 A payday-lender lobbying group announces it will hold
its 2018 annual conference at the Trump National Doral. Two
months later, the administration announces it is considering
scrapping a rule that requires payday lenders to stop taking
advantage of clients who cannot pay off their loans.
2018
1/2 A judge rules that Starrett City, a housing complex in
Brooklyn that Trump owns a stake in, can be sold to private
developers. The sale is expected to net Trump $14 million
after the administration approves it.*
2/21 Mississippi awards $6 million in tax breaks to a new
Trump-branded hotel.
Family & Friends
``The company and policy and government are completely
separated. We have built an unbelievable wall in between the
two.''--Eric Trump
2016
11/13 While appearing on 60 Minutes to discuss her father's
election, Ivanka Trump wears a $10,800 bracelet from her
jewelry company. After the interview, the company sends out a
``style alert'' promoting the bracelet to reporters.
12/6 Firm founded by Melania Trump's friend and adviser
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff receives $26 million for helping
plan the inauguration.
2017
1/5 Eric Trump jets to Uruguay to check on an unfinished
Trump condo tower. The trip costs taxpayers $97,830.
2/5 Eric Trump spends $200,000 in taxpayer money to jet to
the Dominican Republic to push for a Trump-branded project.
The deal--which would put Trump's name on 17 high-rises--
violates a Dominican height limit for new resorts. It also
breaks Trump's vow not to seek overseas deals during his
presidency. The Dominican president personally approves the
high-rises. ``Here in the palace, the president's thoughts
are that this U.S president is angry and we better not get in
his way,'' a former Dominican ambassador explains. ``We don't
want to cross him.''
2/6 Melania's lawyers, suing a British paper for libel,
argue its reporting ruined her ``once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity'' to monetize her position as First Lady by
cashing in on ``multi-million-dollar business
relationships.''
2/9 Kellyanne Conway offers ``free commercial'' for
Ivanka's clothing line on Fox News. ``Go buy it today,
everybody.'' Trump refuses to discipline her, defying
recommendation of his own ethics agency.
2/18 Taxpayers pay $16,000 to provide security for Eric
Trump and Donald Jr. during their trip to open a Trump-
branded golf course in Dubai. The event is invitation-only.
3/3 Jared Kushner meets with the CEO of Citigroup, which is
lobbying to loosen financial regulations. Citigroup
subsequently lends Kushner's company $325 million to develop
a group of office buildings in Brooklyn.
3/9 Kushner fails to disclose his ownership of Cadre, a
real-estate start-up. The firm's value shot up by millions of
dollars after he entered the White House.
3/20 Eric's wife posts a photo on Instagram of the family's
weeklong ski vacation in Aspen. Taxpayers were charged
$330,000 for security details and another $200,000 for luxury
lodgings.
3/20 Ivanka, refusing to place her assets in a blind trust,
sets up shop in the West Wing.
4/24 Kushner's family tries to broker funding for his real-
estate ventures with Qatar's finance minister. The minister
declines. A month later, Kushner supports diplomatic actions
against Qatar.
5/4 State Department and Voice of America promote Ivanka's
book Women Who Work
5/5 Trump extends fast-track visas for foreigners who
invest $500,000 in U.S. properties. The next day, Kushner's
sister promises visas to Chinese investors if they put
$500,000 into the family's properties in New Jersey.
5/17 Kushner's company is subpoenaed by federal prosecutors
and the SEC for its promotion of the investment-for-visa
program.
7/21 CNN finds that even after his family business
apologizes for name-dropping Kushner at a marketing event in
Beijing, it highlights his White House role in an online
sales pitch to Chinese investors.
10/3 Kushner fined $200 for missing a disclosure deadline.
To date, he has been forced to change his disclosure form 39
times for failing to mention potential conflicts of interest.
10/4 ProPublica investigation reveals that after Manhattan
DA Cyrus Vance dropped a criminal investigation against
Donald Jr. and Ivanka, their attorney arranged a fund-raiser
on Vance's behalf, donating $32,000 himself and raising at
least $9,000 more.
11/1 Apollo Global Management lends Kushner's real-estate
company $184 million--triple the size of its average loan--
after meeting with him in the White House six weeks later,
the SEC drops investigation into Apollo's finances.
12/3 Kushner is exposed for failing to disclose that his
family's foundation--which he led for nine years--funded an
illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. Just before
Trump took office, Kushner tried to sway a U.N. vote against
an anti-settlement resolution.
2018
2/20 Donald Jr. tours India to sell Trump-branded homes;
several newspapers run an ad promising a ``conversation and
dinner'' with him--for an additional fee of $30,000.
Officials & Their Pals
``We are going to send the special interests packing.''--
Donald Trump
2017
1/19 During his confirmation as Treasury secretary, Steven
Mnuchin fails to disclose a hedge fund he registered in the
Cayman Islands to avoid paying federal taxes--the very thing
he is supposed to collect as Treasury secretary.
1/24 During his confirmation as secretary of Health and
Human Services, Tom Price fails to disclose an insider deal
he got on $520,000 in stock in a biotech company. As
secretary, he will be in a position to approve a drug the
company has developed.
2/9 Reports reveal that a top White House aide, Chris
Liddell, participated in meetings between Trump and the CEOs
of 18 companies in which he held large amounts of stock--a
possible criminal offense. The companies included Lockheed
Martin, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and Dow Chemical.
3/16 Congressional investigators reveal that Trump's former
national-security adviser Michael Flynn--who wanted to ``rip
up'' American sanctions on Russia--failed to report $45,000
in fees he received from the Russian state media outlet RT.
4/14 The White House stops releasing logs of visitors,
concealing trips made by lobbyists and corporate executives.
In Trump's first two months alone, by one estimate, more than
500 executives and foreign leaders made unrecorded visits to
the White House.
6/29 HUD Secretary Ben Carson tours Baltimore--accompanied
by prospective business associates being courted by his son.
One administrator on the tour later offers Carson's daughter-
in-law a contract worth $500,000.
11/5 New reports reveal that during his confirmation
hearings, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross failed to disclose
that a shipping firm he owns a stake in has close ties to
Vladimir Putin's son-in-law. His new job puts him in charge
of American trade policy with Russia.
12/18 Under pressure from watchdogs, EPA chief Scott Pruitt
terminates a $120,000 contract for a firm he has worked with
in the past to dig up information on EPA staffers who had
criticized him or his policies.
12/22 ``You all just got a lot richer,'' Trump tells
wealthy patrons at Mar-a-Lago hours after signing a massive
tax giveway to the superrich. The bill saved Trump $15
million in taxes and Jared Kushner $12 million. It also
enriched much of Trump's inner circle--including Linda
McMahon, Betsy DeVos, Steven Mnuchin, and Rex Tillerson.
2018
1/12 Performant Financial is one of only two companies
awarded $400 million in contracts from the Education
Department to collect on defaulted student loans. One notable
former investor in Performant: Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos.
1/31 CDC chief Brenda Fitzgerald is forced to resign over
her purchase of stock in one of the world's largest tobacco
companies. She bought the shares a month after taking over
the agency tasked with reducing tobacco use.
2/1 William Emanuel, a Trump appointee to the National
Labor Relations Board, is investigated for a possible ethics
violation after he votes on a case involving his former law
firm. His tie-breaking vote would have made it harder for
employees at franchises like McDonald's to hold their parent
companies accountable for labor-law violations, but the
decision is thrown out because of his conflict of interest.
3/29 ABC News reports that EPA chief Pruitt spent much of
his first year in Washington living in a townhouse co-owned
by the wife of J. Steven Hart, a top energy lobbyist. Hart
lobbied the EPA on several policies last year, including coal
regulations and limits on air pollution.
Lobbyist & Other Sleaze
``We're going to end the government corruption, and we're
going to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.''--Donald Trump
2017
1/17 Scott Mason, a key member of Trump's transition team,
returns to lobbying--one of nine transition-team members to
violate Trump's pledge that he would bar such revolving-door
moves for at least six months. One of Mason's clients,
Peabody Energy, later helps dream up a coal-industry bailout
promoted by Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
1/23 Trump appoints Jeffrey Wood, a lobbyist for a coal
polluter, to prosecute environmental crimes like coal
pollution.
2/6 Lauren Maddox, who guided Betsy DeVos through her
confirmation process for Education secretary, is hired by a
for-profit law school to help restore its access to federal
student loans. After paying $130,000 in lobbying fees, the
school gets its wish: The Education Department agrees to
reconsider its eligiblity for millions in loans.
2/27 Billionaire Carl Icahn, an unpaid adviser to Trump,
submits a regulatory proposal that would raise the value of
his investment in an oil refinery. During Trump's first six
weeks in office, Icahn makes an extra $60 million on the
deal.
4/12 Marcus Peacock, a policy expert in Trump's budget
office, takes a job lobbying the budget office for the
Business Roundtable, which represents zoo of America's
largest corporations. Trump makes no move to enforce the
five-year moratorium he vowed to place on such revolving-door
moves.
5/19 Trump nominates K. T. McFarland, adviser who once
siphoned off $14,000 in campaign funds for ``personal use,''
as ambassador to Singapore.
8/1 A top aide to EPA chief Scott Pruitt, who oversees
federal grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars,
receives permission to work as a consultant for private
clients. Despite his influence over public policy, the
identities of his clients will be kept secret.
8/15 Two Trump campaign operatives register a new lobbying
firm, Turnberry Solutions, named after the Scottish town
where Trump owns a golf club. Its first client, Elio Motors,
hires it to help obtain government handouts.
10/17 Whitefish Energy, a Montana firm that employed the
son of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, is awarded $300 million
in a no-bid federal contract to restore storm-battered Puerto
Rico.
10/26 Trump nominates J. Steven Gardner, a coal-industry
consultant, to oversee enforcement of strip-mining
regulations. The Senate winds up rejecting the nomination.
11/8 Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump's pick to head the Department
of Homeland Security, was guided through her confirmation by
a lobbyist whose clients compete for DHS contracts.
Privatizing the ``sherpa'' role in confirmations--work long
performed by government staffers--opens up a brazen new
frontier in corruption. The lobbyist, Thad Binge, oversaw the
drafting of official policy memos and was included on emails
between the DHS and the White House, enabling him to exploit
internal information for private gain. Among Bingel's clients
is an Israeli defense contractor being paid $145 million by
DHS to build part of Trump's ``virtual wall'' along the
Mexican border.
12/6 A photographer at the Department of Energy is fired
after leaking a photo that shows Rick Perry receiving a
confidential ``action plan'' from a coal magnate in March.
The plan is a blueprint for the coal-industry bailout that
Perry announced in September.
2018
1/12 Trump gives Kenneth Allen, a former mining executive
who still profits from coal sales to the Tennessee Valley
Authority, a seat on the TVA board.
1/29 Alex Azar, a former lobbyist who worked his way up to
the presidency of a drug company, is sworn in as secretary of
Health and Human Services. Azar, whose company hiked the
price of insulin and other drugs under his watch, is now in
charge of making drugs more affordable.
2/12 Carl Icahn, who served as an unpaid adviser to Trump,
sells $30 million in steel stocks just before Trump announces
tariffs on steel imports.
2/18 Dina Powell, who advised Trump on foreign policy,
returns to Goldman Sachs only two months after leaving the
White House. At Goldman, she will focus on ``enhancing the
firm's relationships'' with some of the same foreign
governments she advised Trump on.
3/2 Trump nominates Peter Wright, an attorney for Dow
Chemical, to lead the EPA's regulation of chemical spills.
Dow has 100 polluted sites that Wright would be in charge of
cleaning up.
Petty Graft
2107
2/28 The State Department spends $15,000 in taxpayer money
for the grand opening of a Trump hotel in Vancouver, an event
attended by Eric, Tiffany, and Donald Jr.
4/14 Trump jets to Mar-a-Lago via Air Force One at a cost
to taxpayers of $142,380 per hour. For years, Trump heckled
President Obama for taking vacations and golfing trips at
government expense. If elected, he vowed, he would ``rarely
leave the White House, because there's so much work to be
done.'' In fact, during his first three months in office,
Trump's taxpayer-funded flights to his private properties
exceeded $20 million--on track to quickly surpass the amount
Obama spent on travel during his eight years in office. Trump
made more than 90 visits to his golf courses and played
almost twice as much golf as Obama. His family joined in,
requiring Secret Service agents to rack up an extra 4,054
days of taxpayer-funded travel to keep up.
5/16 Rick Perry and his staffers take a private Jet to a
small-business forum in Kansas City, at a cost to taxpayers
of $35,000, rather than taking a nonstop flight to the
airport 45 minutes away from the event.
6/2 David Shulkin's chief of staff falsifies an email to
suggest that the VA secretary needed to travel to Europe to
receive an award. Shulkin's 11-day trip with his wife, most
of which was devoted to sightseeing, cost taxpayers $122,344.
6/7 Scott Pruitt, the EPA chief, spends $36,000 in taxpayer
money to take a military plane to New York.
6/24 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin marries Louise
Linton and requests a military plane for their honeymoon to
Europe--at a cost to taxpayers of $25,000 per hour.
6/26 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spends $12,375 in
taxpayer money to fly home aboard a private flight from Las
Vegas, where he hung out with a hockey team owned by his
biggest campaign donor.
7/7 Zinke uses $6,250 in taxpayer money for a helicopter
flight from Virginia to Washington, D.C.--a three-hour car
ride--for a horse-riding date with Mike Pence.
8/4 HHS Secretary Tom Price takes a private jet at taxpayer
expense to St. Simons Island, an exclusive resort where he
owns land. The trip, like many of the 26 flights Price took
on corporate jets, could have been accomplished with a
routine commercial flight.
8/21 Mnuchin and his wife travel to Kentucky aboard a
government plane, at a cost to taxpayers of $33,000, to watch
the solar eclipse.
8/30 EPA chief Pruitt spends $43,000 to build a soundproof
phone booth in his office, enabling him to hold secret
conversations with lobbyists and corporate executives. The
Government Accountability Office is investigating whether the
move violated agency spending rules.
9/29 HHS Secretary Price is forced to resign over the
nearly $1 million in taxpayer money he spent taking military
planes and private jets, often to visit family and friends.
2018
2/27 HUD Secretary Ben Carson spends $196,000 on a dinette
set and lounge furniture,
exceeding the $5,000 legal limit for office improvements.
3/7 Zinke spends $139,000 to renovate his office doors at
Interior.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
