[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 97 (Wednesday, June 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4684-H4686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of
the House that was previously noticed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
The Clerk read as follows:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
the President shall immediately release his tax return
information to Congress and the American people.
Whereas, in the United States' system of checks and
balances, Congress has a responsibility to hold the Executive
Branch of government to a fair and equal standard of
transparency ensuring the public interest is placed first;
Whereas, according to the Tax History Project, every
President since Gerald Ford has disclosed their tax return
information to the public;
Whereas, tax returns provide an important baseline of
reasonable information including whether the President paid
taxes, ownership interests, charitable donations made, and
whether tax deductions have been exploited;
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, the President recently fired Federal Bureau of
Investigation Director James Comey, under whose leadership
the FBI was investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded
with Russia to influence the 2016 election;
Whereas, President Trump reportedly stated to Russian
officials during a White House meeting that he fired Director
Comey to ease pressure on the ongoing investigation of
Russia's influence in the 2016 election;
Whereas, Senate Russia investigators have requested
information from the Treasury Department's criminal
investigation division, the Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network, or FinCEN, which handles cases of money laundering,
for information related to President Trump, his top officials
and campaign aides. FinCEN has been investigating allegations
of foreign money-laundering through purchases of U.S. real
estate;
Whereas, the President's tax returns would show us whether
he has foreign bank accounts and how much profit he receives
from his ownership in myriad partnerships;
Whereas, Donald Trump Jr. said the Trump Organization saw
money ``pouring in from Russia'' and that ``Russians make up
a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our
assets.''
Whereas, Congress gave itself the authority to review an
individual's tax returns to investigate and reveal possible
conflicts of interest of executive branch officials involved
dating back to the Teapot Dome scandal.
Whereas, it has been reported that federal prosecutors have
issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National
Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records as
part of the ongoing probe into Russian involvement in the
2016 election;
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; and can still
withdraw funds at any time from the trust of which he is the
sole beneficiary;
Whereas, 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 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 Director Comey has testified that tax returns are a
common tool in investigations because they can show income
and motives;
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--
1. 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.
2. Support transparency in government and the longstanding
tradition of Presidents and Presidential candidates
disclosing their tax returns.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Does the gentleman from
Massachusetts wish to present argument on the parliamentary question
whether the resolution presents a question of the privileges of the
House?
Mr. CAPUANO. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I would like to do so.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is recognized on the question
of order.
[[Page H4685]]
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, the privileges of the House as defined in
rule IX, clause 1 are ``those affecting the rights of the House
collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its
proceedings.''
We all know what has been going on for the last couple of months. In
light of the testimony that was just released today of former Director
Comey and what he is scheduled to say, his written testimony tomorrow,
if it is not clear by now that the Congress should continue its
investigation--as we speak, we have several committees in this Congress
investigating the Russian influence on our election and what its
relationship is with the Trump administration.
Clearly and unequivocally, one of the questions that must be answered
for the integrity of this investigation and, therefore, the integrity
of the House, is whether the President himself had any undue influence
in his actions.
Now, the answer may be ``no,'' and I personally hope that it is
``no.'' I have no personal reason to want to have the President do
something wrong.
But, at the same time, we, the American people, have a right to know
the answer that our President has not been subject to undue influence.
And as a Member of Congress, we have a responsibility to our
constituents to provide them those answers.
The investigations are ongoing. At some point, it is unquestioned
that the President's tax returns will become relevant to what the FBI
is doing. It is only a matter of time.
For the integrity of the House, for the dignity of the House, I
believe firmly that we should exercise the law that the Congress put in
place itself to do our own due diligent investigation and not just
simply sit on our hands while others do our work for us.
These documents will become public, and when they do, regardless of
what they show, I believe firmly it will reflect negatively on this
House for not having done our duty, for having shirked our
responsibilities. That is why I believe this is a privilege of the
House. That is why I believe this House should take this action.
And again, I hope we find nothing. That would be good for America,
certainly good for Mr. Trump, good for America. We have plenty of other
things to argue about and debate. This shouldn't be one of them.
And if anybody can look me in the face and say that they believe this
investigation is just going to go away, if they believe the
investigators are not going to look at the President's financial
records, they can't because anybody who has ever been involved in any
type of an investigation knows it is inevitable. And since it is
inevitable, why should we wait? Why should we wait?
I ran for office, taking an oath to uphold the Constitution and
giving my constituents my promise of only one thing: I will do my job
as best as I see fit. I won't shirk my responsibilities.
We have plenty of votes in this House that many of us, including me,
would rather not take because they are uncomfortable, because we have
to explain them to our constituents, because sometimes they are
difficult and confusing. This is not one of them.
There aren't any Americans that don't believe they have a right to
know that their President has not been subject to undue influence. That
is all this does. It draws no conclusion from it, and it allows the
majority party to call on it to make the determination; not me, but the
majority party; the chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
That is why I offered this resolution. That is why I think this
resolution is going to continue to be offered, and, at some point, the
House is going to do it. I don't know why Members of the House want to
drag this out and pretend that somehow you are going to be able to
avoid it. You are not. It is going to happen.
With that, I would like to invite my friend, Mr. Pascrell, to say a
few words. He has been the leader on this particular issue for months
now.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will hear each Member
individually.
Does any other Member wish to be heard on the question of order?
The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized on the question of order.
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, just when you think you heard it all, you
haven't. And as my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) just pointed
out, what we need to do is uphold the integrity of this body, the
legislative branch of government.
Now, just a brief review, because I have about 2,000 pages of
reference. We are not going to go into that all tonight, but if you
will allow me, I will go into some of it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Does this pertain to the question of order?
Mr. PASCRELL. Yes, sir.
We started out on February 1. We have had a letter to the chairman of
the Ways and Means Committee. We have had an amendment in the Ways and
Means Committee, which is one of the three committees under 6103,
paragraph F, section 1 of the Tax Code, written in 1924, that allows
the Ways and Means Committee, along with the Senate Finance Committee,
along with the Joint Committee on Taxation, to do its due diligence.
We have had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven privileged
resolutions. Mr. Capuano has offered tonight's privileged resolution.
We have had a resolution, two resolutions of inquiry through the Ways
and Means Committee--just having a little review here of what we have
done. We have debated all of these. They must have all been in order.
And we have a discharge petition right now before the Congress of the
United States, and if we get to 218 in that discharge petition, we will
have to take another vote. As Mr. Capuano pointed out, there are a lot
of votes that we don't like to take, but these are votes that are
necessary, Mr. Speaker.
Already, two dozen Members of the majority party at town meetings
have said, yes, the President should give the public, or at least the
committees, first of all, his tax returns.
We are not talking about a 1040. We are talking about thousands of
pages that go into a businessperson's, who is a billion-, zillionaire,
whatever the heck he is, that is what it takes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman must confine his remarks to
the question of order; whether the proposed resolution constitutes a
question of the privileges of the House.
Mr. PASCRELL. Oh, I think this is a privilege of the House, sir.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Not to the merits of the resolution.
Mr. PASCRELL. Right. I understand that. I understand that. Thank you
for pointing that out.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure you know who Walter Shaub is. S-H-A-U-B.
Walter Shaub is the Director of the United States Office of Government
Ethics. That is pretty important. In fact, in the last administration--
talk about the privilege of the House--this is the document that was
presented on June 21, the day after inauguration, 2009, the Ethics
Commitments by the Executive Branch of Personnel.
This document goes into such things as the revolving door ban on
lobbyists or pertaining to the executive branch of government because
that is what we are talking about.
Just when you think you have heard it all, you haven't.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, this administration threw out there in a
trial balloon that we are going to start to sell off----
Is there a problem? Is there a problem?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman must confine his remarks to
the question of order.
Mr. PASCRELL. That is correct. That is exactly what I am doing.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is wandering far from the
question of order.
Mr. PASCRELL. I never wander, Mr. Speaker. I may not stick to the
subject, but I don't wander.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is in the wilderness.
Mr. PASCRELL. No, I am not. I am not in Idaho.
The fact of the matter is, this is a very specific document that each
administration presents when it is sworn. This is the set of rules
which govern the executive branch of government.
When I read in documentation that we are getting set to sell off
public lands, what am I reminded of?
Talk about the integrity of the House of Representatives. What am I
reminded of?
I am reminded of what happened in 1922, 1923, 1924, when they tried
to sell
[[Page H4686]]
off oil reserves, and it got them into trouble. Republicans had their
hands out. Democrats had their hands out, which led, Mr. Speaker----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair is prepared to rule.
The gentleman from Massachusetts seeks to offer a resolution as a
question of the privileges of the House under rule IX.
As the Chair most recently ruled on May 24, 2017, the resolution
directs the Committee on Ways and Means to meet and consider an item of
business under the procedures set forth in 26 U.S.C. 6103 and,
therefore, does not qualify as a question of the privileges of the
House.
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the chair.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is, Shall the decision of the
Chair stand as the judgment of the House?
Motion to Table
Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. McCaul moves that the appeal be laid on the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, and the
order of the House of today, this 15-minute vote on the motion to table
will be followed by 5-minute votes on adoption of amendment No. 1 to
H.R. 2213 and passage of H.R. 2213, if ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 228,
nays 186, answered ``present'' 1, not voting 15, as follows:
[Roll No. 292]
YEAS--228
Abraham
Allen
Amash
Amodei
Arrington
Bacon
Banks (IN)
Barletta
Barr
Barton
Bergman
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (MI)
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Blum
Bost
Brat
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Budd
Burgess
Byrne
Calvert
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chabot
Chaffetz
Cheney
Coffman
Cole
Collins (GA)
Collins (NY)
Comer
Comstock
Conaway
Cook
Costello (PA)
Cramer
Crawford
Culberson
Curbelo (FL)
Davidson
Davis, Rodney
Denham
Dent
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donovan
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Dunn
Emmer
Estes (KS)
Farenthold
Faso
Ferguson
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flores
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garrett
Gibbs
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Griffith
Guthrie
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hensarling
Herrera Beutler
Hice, Jody B.
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Holding
Hollingsworth
Hudson
Huizenga
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurd
Issa
Jenkins (KS)
Jenkins (WV)
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Katko
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kinzinger
Knight
Kustoff (TN)
Labrador
LaHood
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lance
Latta
Lewis (MN)
LoBiondo
Long
Loudermilk
Love
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
MacArthur
Marchant
Marshall
Massie
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
McSally
Meadows
Meehan
Messer
Mitchell
Moolenaar
Mooney (WV)
Mullin
Murphy (PA)
Newhouse
Noem
Nunes
Olson
Palazzo
Palmer
Paulsen
Pearce
Perry
Peterson
Pittenger
Poe (TX)
Poliquin
Posey
Ratcliffe
Reed
Renacci
Rice (SC)
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney, Francis
Rooney, Thomas J.
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Rouzer
Royce (CA)
Russell
Rutherford
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Stefanik
Stewart
Stivers
Taylor
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Trott
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walker
Walorski
Walters, Mimi
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Yoho
Young (AK)
Young (IA)
Zeldin
NAYS--186
Adams
Aguilar
Barragan
Bass
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brady (PA)
Brown (MD)
Brownley (CA)
Bustos
Butterfield
Capuano
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Cohen
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Crist
Crowley
Cuellar
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeGette
Delaney
DeLauro
DelBene
Demings
DeSaulnier
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle, Michael F.
Ellison
Eshoo
Espaillat
Esty (CT)
Evans
Foster
Frankel (FL)
Fudge
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Gonzalez (TX)
Gottheimer
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hanabusa
Hastings
Heck
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Hoyer
Huffman
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kihuen
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster (NH)
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lawrence
Lawson (FL)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham, M.
Lujan, Ben Ray
Lynch
Maloney, Carolyn B.
Maloney, Sean
Matsui
McCollum
McEachin
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Meng
Moore
Moulton
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Neal
Nolan
Norcross
O'Halleran
O'Rourke
Pallone
Panetta
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Pingree
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Raskin
Rice (NY)
Rosen
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Soto
Speier
Suozzi
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tonko
Torres
Tsongas
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters, Maxine
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1
Sanford
NOT VOTING--15
Aderholt
Babin
Brady (TX)
Clyburn
Cummings
DeFazio
Engel
Grothman
Jackson Lee
Johnson, Sam
Marino
Napolitano
Reichert
Richmond
Smith (TX)
{time} 1639
Messrs. YARMUTH, CONYERS, and GENE GREEN of Texas changed their vote
from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
So the motion to table was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Stated for:
Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 292, I was
unavoidably detained to cast my vote in time. Had I been present, I
would have voted ``yes.''
____________________