Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2017

I thank the chairman for yielding to me and for his support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, this is very simple, bipartisan legislation that would require organizers of Presidential libraries to disclose the identities of donors and the amounts they give. It wouldn't limit any donations; it would simply require disclosure. I introduced this legislation several Congresses ago because I felt then and feel now that the public should be made aware of possible conflicts of interest that sitting Presidents can have or may have while raising funds for their libraries.

First of all, I thank Ranking Member Cummings for again cosponsoring this very important legislation and making it bipartisan. The legislation is so bipartisan that, after the first time we passed the bill--and it passed 392-3--it was taken over, at my request and with my agreement, by then-Chairman Waxman, who made it his bill. We passed it once again, and we passed it in the last Congress by a simple voice vote, so there is a lot of support for this bill. In the Senate, it was introduced by Mr. Carper and Mr. Coburn, when he was in the Senate. We need to get some

more interest over there, and I think we are going to be able to do that in this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, we do not know who these donors to the Presidential libraries are or what interests they may have on any pending policy decisions that are to be made. I think that our government needs to operate in the open, not with secrecy. This legislation will apply to all future Presidential libraries and mandate, regardless of party, that the names of the donors and the amounts they contribute be disclosed. I would like to add that this legislation will apply to President Trump's future Presidential library. This will require him to disclose more than any other President has ever had to disclose before. This will be an unprecedented disclosure, and it falls in line with his stated desire to drain the swamp. Any sitting President has a great deal of power. Funds should not be raised for a Presidential library in his honor without some type of public disclosure.

I decided to introduce this bill after news reports surrounding a proposed Presidential library exposed that foreign governments from the Middle East were making very large donations. Then, in 2007, The Washington Post reported that President Clinton's Presidential library raised a substantial percentage of the cost of its facility with foreign contributions. However, this is not a partisan issue. I have introduced this and supported this legislation under both Democratic and Republican Presidents. The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2017 would bring clarity to the process of planning and building these Presidential libraries.

In 2013, Sunlight Foundation Policy Director Daniel Schuman endorsed an earlier version of this bill during a hearing in front of our House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where he said it ``would provide valuable information on special interests whose donations put them in close proximity with Presidents.''

Even Richard Cohen, the very liberal columnist for The Washington Post, once said about this bill: ``But surely it would be anything from interesting to illustrative to just plain damning to see what names are on that list and for what amounts.'' Our citizens have the right to know the details of these fundraising activities.

This bill has been introduced by the Center for Media and Democracy; the Center for Responsive Politics; the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, often known as CREW; Common Cause; Public Citizen; the Society of Professional Journalists; and many others.

USA Today wrote a very favorable editorial about this bill, and it has been mentioned favorably in many publications across the years. I think it is a bill that everybody on both sides of the aisle can support, and I ask my colleagues to support this very bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 73) to amend title 44, United States Code, to require information on contributors to Presidential library fundraising organizations, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), who has championed this effort for quite a while. He is passionate about this, and he has poured his heart and soul into it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As has been highlighted here by Mr. Clay and by me, there is good bipartisan work that has gone on for far too long. It is time to pass this bill. I really do appreciate the good work Mr. Duncan of Tennessee has done and the work of Ranking Member Cummings of Maryland.

The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2017 is the type of good-government, bipartisan legislation that is perfect to be one of the first bills to pass out of the 115th Congress. Last Congress, this legislation passed through the committee by regular order and passed the House of Representatives without opposition.

President Franklin Roosevelt established the first Presidential library in 1939. Since then, every former President since Herbert Hoover has had a library dedicated to his Presidential records. Each of the 13 current libraries is managed and operated by the National Archives and Records Administration at an annual cost of roughly $75 million. While these facilities are operated at taxpayer expense, the construction of these libraries is privately financed through donations.

As the volume of records for each President has increased over the years, so have construction costs. For example, when it opened in 2004, the Clinton Presidential Center, in part, cost approximately $165 million.

Nine years later, the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which opened in 2013, cost about $250 million. The Chicago Tribune has reported that President Obama's library might cost as much as $500 million.

Despite these escalating costs, there are no transparency requirements for Presidential library fundraising organizations. Here, transparency is important and very much needed.

This bill will require Presidential library fundraising organizations to disclose to the National Archives contributions in excess of $200 in any fiscal quarter in a searchable and sortable format. In turn, the National Archives will post this data online.

This disclosure requirement would end once control of a library facility is transferred to the National Archives. This ensures compliance costs of this legislation are minimal for both fundraising organizations and the National Archives.

This legislation is bipartisan. It is not intended to target any one individual. The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act has passed the House four times since 2002, with overwhelming support with both Democratic and Republican majorities in place at the time.

I would like to, again, highlight and thank my colleague, Representative Duncan. I do appreciate his efforts on this. I do hope that the 115th Congress is the time that the Senate will see fit to pass this bill to the President's desk.

I have no additional speakers.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge its passage.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank my long-time friend Representative Duncan and Ranking Member Cummings for sponsoring this bill. Representative Duncan first sponsored a bill to improve Presidential libraries 17 years ago. I hope we can now, finally, get this important legislation enacted.

The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act would make the process for building Presidential libraries more transparent. Presidential libraries have become increasingly more expensive as they have evolved into multipurpose centers. The George W. Bush Presidential Center cost an estimated $250 million to build, and President Bush raised, approximately, $500 million for the building and an endowment for his library, museum, and institute.

Under current law, there is no requirement to disclose the identities of those who donate to a Presidential library and to a President while he is still in office. He is able to raise an unlimited amount of private donations. Requiring the disclosures of donors would help prevent the trading of political favors in exchange for donations.

This bill would require organizations that raise money to build Presidential libraries to disclose the identity of any individual who donates more than $200. The National Archives and Records Administration would then be required to post the donation information online. The bill would also create criminal penalties for individuals who report false information on donations and for fundraising organizations that omit donation information.

As was mentioned earlier, a group of 15 good government organizations, including CREW and the Sunlight Foundation, sent a letter that urged the House to support this bill. Here is what they wrote:

Under the current opaque system, Presidents raise funds

privately to establish their Presidential libraries.

These efforts, which often begin long before they leave

office, are unregulated and undisclosed, creating

opportunities for--or the appearance of--influence peddling.

Improved transparency would help reduce the appearance of

impropriety and help deter any inappropriate behavior.

This bill was approved, without opposition, by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and it passed the House last year without opposition. I urge every Member of this body to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I just urge this body to adopt the legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.