WASHINGTON (AP) – A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday would require the president and vice president to have a , which requires the public disclosure of tax returns during and after one's term in office. .
The proposal was led by an unusual combination of Republican Representative James Comer and progressive Democratic House members. katie porteris the latest effort to increase Congressional oversight of presidential ethics as both parties grapple with congressional investigations into leading candidates for the White House.
Democrats introduced a counter-bill on Tuesday that would enforce the Constitution's emoluments ban, which prohibits the president from accepting gifts or money from foreign countries without Congressional authorization. Supporters of the proposal say Republican Donald Trump brazenly ignored the provision as he and foreign government officials flocked to the president's various hotels and properties.
The release of the dueling bills signals a bipartisan appetite in Congress to overhaul presidential ethics rules. But the proposals are entangled in a bitter partisan battle over the actions of President Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden, and it remains to be seen whether they can pass the House, let alone become law.
The White House said in a statement Wednesday that Biden has already complied with many of the provisions in the bill and “makes clear his commitment to maintaining strong ethical standards.”
The proposal by Comer, R-Kentucky, and Porter, D-Calif., focuses on increasing transparency, calling for disclosure of foreign payments, gifts and loans to officials' immediate family members. The president and vice president are required to clarify when their immediate family members will accompany them on official business trips, and specify when they will be accompanying them for official business purposes. The provision is a direct response to concerns over business dealings between President Trump's children and Biden's son.
Trump and Biden have very different approaches to financial disclosure. President Trump has stubbornly resisted efforts to share details of his financial history, contrary to the practices of transparency followed by all post-Watergate presidents. Mr. Biden regularly releases annual reports.
Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said the bill would ensure that “going forward, the president, vice president, and their families of the United States can no longer profit from their proximity to power.”
“For more than two centuries, there has been no need to develop a full-fledged legislative mechanism to enforce the Emoluments Clause, but Congress now requires that presidents sell out the government and never again abuse the office of president for personal gain. “Foreign states,” the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said in a statement.
Republicans led by Comer have argued over the past 17 months that the Bidens have used the president's name to try to link Biden to several calls and dinners he had with his son when he was vice president or when he was out of administration, Hunter and his business associates.
The committee released records showing that multiple members of the Biden family received more than $15 million in payments from foreign companies between 2014 and 2019. Republicans have also criticized a series of loans provided by Democratic donors to the president's family, including more than $6 million provided to Hunter Biden by entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris.
But Republicans have failed to present any evidence that Joe Biden was directly involved in or benefited from his family's businesses while in office.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the committee released a report in January revealing that Trump's companies received nearly $8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency.
The documents reveal how foreign governments and their entities funneled vast sums of money into various properties belonging to President Trump, including the Trump International Hotels in Washington and Las Vegas and two Trump properties in New York. Outlined. Recipients ranged from China to Saudi Arabia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Government ethics lawyers have criticized President Trump's decision to maintain his vast business empire after taking office, saying the decision has given the president ample opportunity to co-opt people who want to influence U.S. policy. said.
Trump and his lawyers argue that critics have misunderstood the Emoluments Clause, saying the framers of the Constitution did not intend it to cover fair-value transactions between a company and its customers, such as providing a hotel room for a night in exchange for payment.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Democrats introduced the proposal on Tuesday, not Monday.
