119-hres410

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 410 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 410

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President 
Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause, by submitting all 
 plans for his jumbo jet gift from Qatar immediately to Congress.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 14, 2025

 Mr. Raskin (for himself, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
 Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Correa, 
Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Neguse, Mrs. McBath, Ms. Ross, Ms. Balint, Mr. Garcia 
of Illinois, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Goldman of New York, 
 and Ms. Crockett) submitted the following resolution; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President 
Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause, by submitting all 
 plans for his jumbo jet gift from Qatar immediately to Congress.

Whereas article I, 

section 9, clause 8 of the United States Constitution (known 
 as the ``Foreign Emoluments Clause'') provides that ``[N]o Person 
 holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], 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'';
Whereas the framers of the Constitution were determined to presumptively ban the 
 collection of emoluments from foreign governments ``of any kind 
 whatever'' by our political leaders to guarantee their undivided 
 fiduciary loyalty to the American people and to prevent them from being 
 corrupted in their official decisionmaking by the wealth and plunder of 
 foreign states and monarchs;
Whereas the Constitution's sole exception to this presumptive ban on accepting 
 emoluments from foreign governments is in cases where Congress considers 
 and affirmatively consents to the acceptance of such a gift;
Whereas George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address to the Nation, warned 
 that ``Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence...the jealousy 
 of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and 
 experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes 
 of republican government.'';
Whereas, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to Congress 
 petitioning for the privilege of keeping a gold medal presented to him 
 by then-Colombian President Simon Bolivar, but was forced to deposit the 
 medal with the Department of State after Congress rejected his request;
Whereas, in 1840, President Martin Van Buren, who was offered 2 horses, a case 
 of rose oil, 5 bottles of rose water, a package of cashmere shawls, a 
 Persian rug, a box of pearls, and a sword by the Imam of Muscat, sought 
 Congressional guidance and carefully abided by the directive of Congress 
 to deposit the gifts with the Department of State and the Department of 
 the Treasury;
Whereas, in 1844, President John Tyler obeyed the directive of Congress to sell 
 2 horses presented to the United States by the Imam of Muscat and 
 deposit the proceeds with the Department of the Treasury;
Whereas, in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln 
 presented to Congress 2 decorative elephant tusks, a sword, and a 
 photograph from the King of Siam, requesting permission to accept these 
 exotic gifts, but deposited them with the Department of the Interior 
 when Congress rejected his request;
Whereas, in 1877, President Ulysses S. Grant sought and received permission from 
 Congress pursuant to a joint resolution to accept the Statue of Liberty 
 on behalf of the United States as a gift from the government of France;
Whereas, in 1896, Congress passed a joint resolution explicitly authorizing 
 President Benjamin Harrison to accept medals presented to him by the 
 governments of Brazil and Spain;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy declined to accept honorary Irish citizenship 
 in 1963, in order to avoid violating even the spirit of the Foreign 
 Emoluments Clause;
Whereas President Donald Trump, through the Department of Defense, intends to 
 accept a Boeing 747-8 aircraft that has been described as a ``flying 
 palace'' with an estimated value of at least $400,000,000 for temporary 
 use as a Presidential transport aircraft during his term in office from 
 the royal family of Qatar;
Whereas ownership of this ``flying palace'' will reportedly transfer to 
 President Trump's personal Presidential library foundation no later than 
 January 1, 2029;
Whereas President Trump stated at a news conference on May 12, 2025, when asked 
 about this reported offer by the royal family of Qatar to donate the 
 aircraft, ``I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer...I 
 could be a stupid person and say, `no, we don't want a free, very 
 expensive airplane''';
Whereas acceptance of the Qatari aircraft without the permission of Congress 
 would clearly violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause, while also posing 
 significant national security dangers, including, not only in terms of 
 the corruption and illegitimate influence that the framers anticipated, 
 but also in terms of substantial additional risks of espionage against 
 and surveillance of the President and other senior United States 
 Government officials; and
Whereas President Trump remarked that this unprecedented and extravagant gift 
 from a foreign state would result in ``big savings [that] will be spent, 
 instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'', but, in fact, it would not 
 replace the existing contract for retrofitting and modernizing Air Force 
 One, and would instead require hundreds of millions or billions of 
 dollars in new Federal Government and taxpayer investment to retrofit 
 and debug this gift from an autocratic foreign state: Now, therefore, be 
 it
 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
President Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause by--

    (1) submitting all plans for this gift immediately to 
 Congress; and

    (2) if he wishes to accept the ``flying palace'' from the 
 royal family of Qatar as he says publicly he would like to do, 
 obtaining the consent of Congress before doing so, as have all 
 of his predecessors in the Presidency in comparable 
 circumstances.
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