House Dem Caucus leader pushes for vote on Trump taxes

House Republicans shot down another Democratic resolution regarding President Trump’s tax returns Wednesday evening, one day after Trump’s 2005 tax returns were leaked to NBC News.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) offered the resolution Wednesday that instructs the House to request Trump’s tax returns from 2006 to 2015, so the Ways and Means Committee can examine them in a closed session.

Under federal tax law, the chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation can request tax return information from the Treasury Department.

Crowley noted that a growing number of Republican lawmakers have said they want Trump to release his returns. He specifically singled out Rep. Steve Knight (R-Calif.), who is one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s targets for 2018.

Crowley’s measure is similar to resolutions Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. (N.J.) and Anna Eshoo (Calif.) offered on the House floor in recent weeks. It includes additional language that says the American public need to know more about Trump’s business interests in order to “ensure that all policies put forward by the Trump Administration solely benefit the American public and not his corporate business partners.”

As was the case in past weeks, Crowley tried to offer the resolution as “privileged,” meaning the House would have to act on it within two legislative days. But Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who was presiding over the House, ruled that the measure was not privileged, and the vast majority of Republicans voted to table Crowley’s appeal of that ruling, 223-183.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) voted “present,” and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) voted with the Democrats, as they did on a similar vote last week. Knight voted with the bulk of the Republicans.

This is the third week in a row that Democrats have offered a resolution on the House floor pertaining to Trump’s tax returns. While none of those measures have passed so far, Democrats want to keep the pressure on Trump.

{mosads}DCReport.org has published a leaked copy of the first two pages of Trump’s 2005 tax returns, which revealed that he had more than $150 million in income and paid about $38 million in federal taxes that year.

Trump said repeatedly during the presidential campaign that he wouldn’t release his tax returns because the IRS is auditing him, though the tax-collection agency has said that an audit doesn’t prevent people from releasing their own tax information.

The White House confirmed the 2005 returns’ authenticity, but press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that Trump would not release more just because there were media reports about one year of returns.

In addition to forcing Republicans to take votes related to Trump’s tax returns on the House floor, Democrats have also offered amendments twice in the House Ways and Means Committee on the topic.

Both amendments were blocked on party-line votes – but more votes are likely. 

On Friday, Pascrell offered a “resolution of inquiry” instructing Treasury to provide the House with Trump’s returns and information about Trump’s debt held by foreign governments, investments in other countries and use of tax-avoidance strategies. Under House rules, these types of resolutions can get a floor vote if they are not considered in committee within 14 legislative days.

The chairmen of the congressional tax-writing committees have rejected Democratic pleas for them to request Trump’s tax returns from Treasury. They have said it would be an abuse of their authority to do so.