[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 18, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H5941-H5942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE
PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I
rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges
of the House.
The form of the resolution is as follows:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the
President shall immediately disclose his tax return information to the
House of Representatives and the American people.
Whereas, according to the Tax History Project, every President since
Gerald Ford has disclosed his tax return information to the public;
Whereas, the chairmen of the Committee on Ways and Means, Joint
Committee on Taxation, and the Committee on Finance have the authority
to request the President's tax returns under section 6103 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
Whereas, pursuant to Article I, section 7, clause 1 of the
Constitution, often referred to as the Origination Clause, the House of
Representatives has the sole authority to initiate legislation that
raises revenue for the national government, and the Committee on Ways
and Means is considering a comprehensive reform of the Tax Code;
Whereas, President Donald J. Trump holds interests as the sole or
principal owner in approximately 500 separate business entities, and
the President's tax plan proposes to cut the corporate tax from 35
percent to 15 percent, applicable to many of these entities;
Whereas, against the advice of ethics attorneys and the nonpartisan
Office of Government Ethics, the President has refused to divest his
ownership stake in his businesses, has instead placed his assets in a
trust which is run by his adult children, and the President can
withdraw profits from his trust at any time of his choosing from any of
the companies he owns;
Whereas, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter
Shaub, resigned on July 6, 2017, stating that ``There isn't much more I
could accomplish at the Office of Government Ethics, given the current
situation. O.G.E.'s recent experiences have made it clear that the
ethics program needs to be strengthened'';
Whereas, according to media reports analyzing President Trump's
leaked 2005 tax return, had his own tax plan been in place, he would
have paid an estimated 3.48 percent rate instead of a 24 percent rate,
saving him $31.3 million in that year alone;
Whereas, without access to the President's tax returns, the American
people cannot determine how much he will personally benefit from
proposed changes to the Tax Code or from policy decisions he makes, nor
can the American people fully understand the financial interests and
motivations of the President;
Whereas, in June 2017, President Trump filed an updated financial
disclosure with the Office of Government Ethics which showed that the
President reported $37.2 million income from the Mar-a-Lago resort
between January 2016 and April 2017 where he hosted the President of
China and from where he ordered missile strikes against Syria;
Whereas, during the same time period, President Trump reported $288
million in income from all his golf courses, including $19.7 million
from his course in Bedminister, New Jersey;
Whereas, over the weekend of July 14, President Trump sent out eight
tweets promoting the U.S. Women's Open Golf Tournament which took place
at his Bedminister club;
Whereas, Mar-a-Lago doubled its new member fees to $200,000
immediately following the 2016 election, and President Trump personally
benefits from such new member fees;
Whereas, disclosure of the President's tax returns would help those
investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and assist them
in better
[[Page H5942]]
understanding the President's financial ties to the Russian Federation,
Russian businesses, and Russian individuals;
Whereas, in 2013, President Trump said, ``Well, I've done a lot of
business with the Russians. They're smart and they're tough,'' and
President Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr., told a news outlet in 2008
that ``Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a
lot of our assets'';
Whereas, President Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation into ties and
any collusion between the Russian Government and President Trump's
campaign;
Whereas, former Director Comey testified before the Senate
Intelligence Committee that President Trump asked him to ``let go'' of
an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's
business ties to Russia;
Whereas, President Trump stated on May 11, 2017, that he had decided
that he was going to fire Comey because of ``this Russia thing'';
Whereas, at the G-20 Hamburg summit on July 7, 2017, President Trump
took a more than 2 hour closed-door meeting with President Vladimir
Putin, after which he claimed that he ``strongly pressed'' President
Putin on Russian interference in U.S. elections and that it is ``time
to move forward'';
Whereas, on June 9, 2016, then-Candidate Trump's son, Donald Trump,
Jr., then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Trump son-in-law
and current White House adviser Jared Kushner met with a person
described as ``a Russian government attorney,'' and a former Russian
military intelligence officer who promised to offer incriminating
information about Hillary Clinton which had been collected as part of a
Russian Government effort to assist President Trump in his campaign for
President;
Whereas, the Committee on Ways and Means has in the past used the
authority under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in
2014 to make public the confidential tax information of 51 taxpayers;
Whereas, the Committee on Ways and Means has now voted three times
along party lines to continue to conceal President Trump's tax returns;
Whereas, the House of Representatives has now refused ten times to
act on President Trump's tax returns;
Whereas, the Committee on the Judiciary has failed to conduct even
basic oversight on the connections between the Russian Government and
the Trump campaign;
Whereas, the Committee on the Judiciary has now voted twice along
party lines to decline to request documents detailing the Trump
administration's ties with Russian officials;
Whereas, the House of Representatives undermines its dignity and the
integrity of its proceedings by continuing the cover-up of President
Trump's tax returns:
Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives
shall, one, immediately request the tax return and return information
of Donald J. Trump for tax years 2006 through 2015, as provided under
section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as well as the tax
return, and return information with respect to the President's
businesses, of each business entity disclosed by Donald J. Trump on his
Office of Government Ethics Form 278e, specifically each corporation
and each partnership, within the meaning of subchapter K of chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, where he is listed as an officer,
director, or equivalent, or exercises working control; and
Two, postpone consideration of tax reform legislation until the
elected Representatives of the American people in this House have
obtained President Trump's tax returns and return information to
ascertain how any changes to the Tax Code might financially benefit the
President.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered on the
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader
as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence
only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after
the resolution is properly noticed.
Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the
gentleman from Rhode Island will appear in the Record at this point.
The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at
the time designated for consideration of the resolution.
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