Zoe Lofgren: “This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. As has been amply discussed, the mandatory sanctions and fees in this bill would have a chilling effect on cutting-edge litigation. One type of cutting-edge litigation to suffer would be citizen lawsuits seeking enforcement of the foreign Emoluments Clause. The amendment proposed in this motion would exempt civil actions that implicate foreign emoluments. Article I, section 9, clause 8 of the Constitution says: ``No person holding any office of profit or trust . . . shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.'' Why did the Founding Fathers write this? Concern that foreign governments might try to control America. They wanted to make sure that nothing--no gifts, no payments, no advantages of any kind--could be received by officers of the United States, including the President, unless Congress approved it. They wanted to make sure that loyalty was completely to America, not divided by obligations to foreign powers. So receipt of emoluments is a serious breach of the requirements of the Constitution unless Congress approves the payment. Congress has not voted to approve payments by foreign governments to our President.…”