[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4097]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      INTRODUCTION OF NO TRUMP ACT

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 9, 2017

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the presidency should not be a get-rich-
quick scheme. No president or presidential family should be able to 
exploit the Oval Office to get rich or become even wealthier.
  The emoluments clause of the Constitution expressly forbids the 
President from accepting payments from foreign governments which, in my 
opinion, happens whenever an agent of a foreign government stays in any 
president's hotel. While this constitutional protection may have been 
enough in the past, we are now in uncharted waters. Hardly a week goes 
by without reports of taxpayer-funded trips by the President or his 
family to one of his family-owned properties throughout the world. 
These excesses have surpassed anything that this nation has seen 
before, and this unprecedented abuse of taxpayer dollars demands an 
additional ethical check on the office of the presidency.
  That's why I'm introducing the No TRUMP Act, the No Taxpayer Revenue 
Used to Monetize the Presidency Act. This legislation would prohibit 
the use of taxpayer funds to pay for food, lodging, or other expenses 
at hotels owned or operated by a president or his or her relatives, 
ensuring that there is no personal financial incentive for the current 
or any future president and family to stay or hold official meetings or 
events at certain properties across the United States or abroad. In the 
interest of safety, the bill would allow the Secret Service to continue 
guarding First Family residences--Trump Tower in New York and Mar-a-
Lago in Palm Beach, FL.
  With so many unresolved concerns about White House business 
conflicts, this is a responsible step to make sure that the public 
doesn't subsidize the President's private interests.

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