[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.''

                          ____________________