Schiff introduces bill to require agencies report spending at Trump properties

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Monday introduced legislation that would require federal agencies to report their spending at President Trump’s businesses.

Schiff’s bill would not prohibit federal spending at Trump properties, but mandates that agencies submit a report to the Office of Government Ethics detailing any official expenses at companies owned by Trump. The report would have to be made public within 10 days.

{mosads}Democrats had already been investigating whether Trump has been violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits presidents from accepting money or gifts outside their official salary.

“This president has profited off of the presidency in an unprecedented way,” Schiff said in a statement. “Each time President Trump, accompanied by Secret Service agents, White House staff and other federal officials, makes an official visit to one of his properties, the Trump Organization profits.”

The legislation’s introduction comes as Democrats are under increasing pressure to move ahead with impeaching Trump in light of a recent intelligence community whistleblower complaint against the president. Trump acknowledged Sunday that he raised corruption accusations against former Vice President Joe Biden during a phone call with Ukraine’s leader.

The House Judiciary Committee announced last month that it would broaden its investigation into Trump by looking into his proposal to hold the 2020 Group of Seven (G-7) summit at his Doral resort in Florida.

Also last month, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) instructed his panel’s staff to warn foreign governments that spending money at Trump-owned properties may be a violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

Trump handed off daily operations to his two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, upon becoming president, but retains ownership of his businesses.

A June report by The Washington Post showed that Trump’s trips to his properties since becoming president have brought his businesses at least $1.6 million from the federal government and GOP campaigns. But that estimate is likely much higher by now, given that the records at the time dated to only the first half of 2017.

House Democrats have also passed multiple government spending bills this year with provisions to ban federal spending at Trump-owned properties all around the world. Those provisions are unlikely to become law, however, given probable GOP opposition in the Senate.

Trump insisted that he was not trying to boost his own business by suggesting his Doral resort as the next location for the G-7 summit.

“With Doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows, they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views. We have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants, it’s like, such a natural,” Trump said. “Each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow, and they have a lot of units in them, so I think it just works out well.”