On the recordApril 26, 2017
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Colorado for his leadership and for yielding me time. Here I am again. I rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying bill, and I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that my bipartisan--this is both Republicans and Democrats--this bipartisan legislation, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, can be made in order for debate and a vote. The Presidential Tax Transparency Act is very simple. It would require this President, all future Presidents, and Presidential nominees from both major parties to publicly disclose their tax returns. Until recently, most Americans thought this disclosure was required by law, but it actually has been a tradition. It has been a voluntary disclosure by every President of both parties since Watergate. This long disclosure tradition exists because, A, the American people demand a baseline level of transparency from the highest officeholder in the land, and each one of the Presidents wanted the American people to know that their first and top priority was the American people's interest and not their own financial interests. This last Saturday, April 15, thousands of Americans in 125 cities across the country participated in tax marches calling for the President to release his tax returns. Now, why did they do this on holy Saturday? Because they care and they are deeply concerned about the President's conflicts of interests and his foreign business entanglements.…





