[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1698]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        UPHOLDING OUR NATION'S VALUES OF A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, it is only day 13 into the Donald Trump 
administration and we are already faced with yet another round of 
questions about President Trump's potential conflicts of interest over 
his business holdings.
  The most recent issue to raise questions is President Trump's Muslim 
ban executive order. At face value, this action looks like yet another 
harmful step in his divisive agenda. Trump's hateful scapegoating of 
refugees will make us less safe, and it goes against our country's 
moral fiber and small ``d'' democratic values. It is hard to believe 
that these seven countries were targeted based on a serious threat that 
was posed by their citizens who were traveling to the United States.
  The people responsible for some of the most egregious attacks on 
American soil in recent decades, including 
9/11, the Times Square bombing, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Pulse 
nightclub shooting, and others did not come from these seven countries. 
In fact, refugees from these countries already face a lengthy and 
rigorous vetting process led by our security intelligence agencies. 
This 20-step process involves multiple background checks, interviews, 
and screenings, and it frequently takes between 18 and 24 months for 
approval.
  However, these seven countries do have at least one thing in common. 
According to Bloomberg News, The Trump Organization does not have 
business or has not pursued business deals in any of them. President 
Trump does, on the other hand, have business ties to other countries in 
the region that were excluded from the ban. His FEC filings indicate 
The Trump Organization has development projects in Saudi Arabia and 
business projects possibly related to Egypt. These countries were 
excluded from the executive order despite their being home to many of 
the terrorists who carried out 9/11. In Turkey, President Trump has a 
licensing deal for two luxury towers to use his name--a deal he 
received up to $5 million for just last year. He also has licensing 
agreements with businesses in other countries in the region.
  I am not saying that we should ban people from these countries. I 
firmly oppose any ban that is based on nationality or religion, but it 
is unacceptable that business interests have played potentially a role 
in such a destructive policy that also makes our country less safe in 
the long run. This move will likely damage relationships with our 
Muslim allies who are fighting ISIS militants, and be used as a tool by 
the Islamic State to increase their recruitment and radicalization 
efforts.
  Of course, my friends in the majority and in the White House claim 
that the seven countries under this order were similarly targeted by 
our previous administration. In reality, President Trump's 
discriminatory ban is drastically different than President Obama's 
specific changes to the State Department Visa Waiver Program, in which 
the changes focused on expedited visa privileges for dual nationals and 
did not target all citizens from specific countries; but I will bet you 
didn't hear Sean Spicer make that distinction. Instead, the 
administration is busy downplaying the number of people who were 
impacted by this decision and is claiming that only 109 people were 
affected--aka alternative facts. At least 700 people were denied 
boarding after the order was issued, and 90,000 people in these 
countries already have visas but will not be able to travel to the 
United States.
  It is time for the President to stop defending his divisive and 
unconstitutional executive order and start being transparent about his 
business interests. Every President who has been elected in the modern 
era has released his tax records to ensure the American people that his 
actions will not be impacted by financial holdings. After promising 
throughout the campaign to release his tax returns, President Trump's 
advisers recently announced that he will indefinitely hide this 
information from the public. These holdings potentially put President 
Trump in direct violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution 
on day one.
  The safeguard is designed to prevent corruption and foreign influence 
over policy decisions by not allowing Federal officials to take money 
from a foreign entity without there being congressional approval; but 
we have seen report after report of foreign leaders and diplomats 
choosing to stay at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., 
in order to gain favor with the administration. They stand to profit 
from foreign governments, including a big paycheck from a Chinese bank, 
which is a large tenant at the Trump Tower. These are just tip-of-the-
iceberg examples of direct conflicts in both domestic and foreign 
policy under this President.
  Mr. President, it is time for you to fix this. One, divest your 
business holdings immediately to remove any suggestion of there being a 
conflict in your decisionmaking. Two, show us your tax returns so that 
your business and financial interests are transparent to the American 
people. Three, get rid of your unconstitutional executive order, which 
will make us less safe and only serve to embolden our enemies.
  Short of that, we will have to take other actions, including 
legislative directives, resolutions of disapproval, even exploring the 
power of impeachment.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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