[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 26 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 26

 Denying congressional consent for President Donald J. Trump to accept 
 any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from 
    any King, Prince, or foreign state throughout the tenure of his 
                              Presidency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2017

  Ms. Kaptur (for herself, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Takano, Ms. Lee, Mr. 
  Cohen, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Connolly, Mr. 
 Nadler, Mr. Soto, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Blumenauer, 
Mr. Ellison, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Peters, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Hanabusa, Mr. 
  McGovern, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of 
  Texas, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Courtney, Mrs. 
Bustos, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Speier, Mr. 
  Pocan, Ms. Pingree, and Ms. Sanchez) submitted the following joint 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
 Denying congressional consent for President Donald J. Trump to accept 
 any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from 
    any King, Prince, or foreign state throughout the tenure of his 
                              Presidency.

Whereas article I, section 9 of the Constitution provides as follows: ``No Title 
        of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding 
        any office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of 
        the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any 
        kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'';
Whereas our Founding Fathers identified the importance of and included a broad 
        anticorruption measure known as the Emolument Clause to preserve 
        independence from external influence of any holders of public office of 
        profit or trust;
Whereas the Framers inclusion of the Emoluments Clause covers more than just 
        overt quid pro quo bribery and anything of any value whatever, but also 
        encompassed the way judgment could be clouded by private concerns and 
        improper dependencies, incidents where politicians and public 
        institutions serve private interests at the public's expense;
Whereas the Framers strict Constitutional rule protected the most vital 
        safeguard of freedom: the preservation of exclusive loyalty of Federal 
        officeholders to the best interests of the United States of America, the 
        provision guards against after-the-fact corruption;
Whereas it has been widely accepted for almost two centuries that the Emoluments 
        Clause applies to the President of the United States; and
Whereas President Donald J. Trump will be in violation of the Emolument Clause 
        from the moment he executes the Oath of Office unless he is divested of 
        his numerous domestic and foreign business interests: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This joint resolution may be cited as the ``No Congressional 
Consent for President Donald J. Trump To Accept Foreign Emoluments of 
Any Kind Whatsoever''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT FOR ACCEPTANCE OF FOREIGN EMOLUMENTS.

    (a) In General.--The President, as holder of a Federal office, is 
subject to the strict scrutiny of the Emoluments Clause.
    (b) Congressional Consent.--As a holder of office of profit or 
trust, the President shall not accept any present, Emolument, Office, 
or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign 
state, without the consent of Congress.
    (c) Emolument Qualification.--Historic meaning and precedent 
provides that what qualifies as an Emolument is given broad 
construction, further broadened by the inclusion ``of any kind 
whatever,'' leaving Congress with the power to consent or deny consent 
to a full spectrum of transactions.
    (d) King, Prince, or Foreign State.--Emoluments reach not only 
foreign states, but also their agents and instrumentalities, and 
precedent has determined that corporations owned or controlled by a 
foreign government are presumptively foreign states.
    (e) No Consent To Accept Foreign Emoluments.--The authority granted 
in article I, section 9, and reaffirmed in subsection (b) hereby denies 
congressional consent to allow President Donald J. Trump to accept any 
present, Emolument, Office, or Title of any kind whatever, from any 
King, Prince, or foreign state.
    (f) Applicability of Other Requirements.--
            (1) Nothing in this joint resolution supersedes any 
        requirement of related laws that limit the principle that 
        Presidents are entitled to presumptions of good faith and 
        public interestedness in their official conduct.
            (2) Nothing in this joint resolution may be construed to 
        imply that an explicit congressional denial of consent is 
        required in order to trigger the prohibition of the Emoluments 
        Clause; on the contrary, only an explicit grant of 
        congressional consent can overcome the prohibition; this joint 
        resolution thus represents not a necessary step to invocation 
        and enforcement of the Clause but only a step taken to 
        underscore the sense of Congress that compliance with the 
        Clause is a matter of the greatest urgency and importance.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    President Donald J. Trump shall submit, within 30 days after the 
enactment of this joint resolution, to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate a report on 
matters relevant to this joint resolution, including a detailed account 
of actions taken to ensure compliance with the Constitution's article 
I, section 9, also known as the Emoluments Clause.
                                 <all>