In May, Oversight Chair James Comer led a bipartisan push to significantly ratchet up the level of transparency required of presidents and their family members.
“We want Americans to see for themselves, now and in the future, whether or not our leaders in the White House are influence peddling,” Comer said in a video at the time, adding that “this isn’t a partisan problem.”
That was Comer’s pitch after spending more than a year investigating President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over their business dealings and months before Donald Trump was elected president. Now that Trump is the president-elect, Comer refuses to say if he will continue pushing for the Presidential Ethics Reform Act.
This week, NOTUS repeatedly asked Comer if he intended to reintroduce the bill in the next Congress.
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“We’re working with an agenda now,” Comer told NOTUS. “I’m kind of keeping in my vest what we’re gonna be pushing next session, so we’ll come out with an aggressive agenda soon.”
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee similarly declined to say if Comer would continue his effort to pass the bill.
“Chairman Comer intends to announce the Oversight Committee’s agenda for the 119th Congress soon,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The legislation proposed by Comer would require presidents and vice presidents to disclose money or gifts from outside the U.S., loans and loan repayments over $10,000, their personal tax returns and any “conflicts of interest” upon taking office.
Comer, who introduced the bill with Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, initially cast the legislation as a solution to the “culture of corruption” in Washington, ending the ability for presidents and vice presidents to “profit from their proximity to power.”
The legislation would increase the level of disclosure required of a president once they take office. Trump reaped the profits of his family ventures the last time he was in office and has since held dozens of political events at his properties. He has trademarks registered across the globe and has been accused by Democrats of benefiting from millions of dollars from foreign governments. Since his reelection, he’s continued to cash in on his name, selling everything from fragrances to coffee-table books.
Comer and Porter pushed for their bill to be passed in this Congress but ultimately failed to get it across the finish line. The legislation fell victim to partisan infighting, with some lawmakers telling NOTUS they broadly agreed with its contents but said Comer’s involvement tainted the effort.
Porter is leaving Congress after losing California’s Senate primary to Adam Schiff. But it’s possible more Democrats could be open to the legislation now that Trump and JD Vance are the ones who would be held to the new standards.
In June, Rep. Ro Khanna told NOTUS that he declined to co-sponsor the legislation for fear it would be “weaponized in a way to score political points.”
Asked on Wednesday if he supported the bill, Khanna told NOTUS he hopes to see it passed.
“I’m for that kind of reform, so let’s hope it gets through,” Khanna said.
Comer has previously suggested that Trump — who bucked the tradition of presidents releasing their tax returns — would be all in on legislation requiring him to do just that. In May, Comer told CNN that he would be “shocked” if Trump opposed the legislation.
“I mean, this is part of draining the swamp,” Comer said.
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Mark Alfred is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Haley Byrd Wilt, a reporter at NOTUS, contributed to this report.
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